Definition: Opal phytoliths are one of several plant residues used by archaeologists to learn about the diet and subsistence of past cultures. A phytolith is a tiny, three-dimensional copy of a plant cell created by a plant as a product of taking in water with dissolved silica. The silica hardens and creates a copy of the cell, and is one of the ways in which a plant supports its structure.
Archaeologically, these microscopic, mineralized, carbon-copies--or rather silicon-copies--of plant cell bodies are preserved when the plant dies--so that they end up in plant residues or archaeological soils and can provide information to the clever archaeologist about the plant from whence it came.
Opal phytoliths were first identified and used in an archaeological context by Deborah Pearsall and Dolores Piperno.
Sources
Read more about opal phytoliths in Opal Phytoliths and Archaeology. A bibliography of opal phytoliths in archaeology has been assembled for this project.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
