A dataset for assessing phytolith data for implementation of the FAIR data principles.

Phytolith research contributes to our understanding of plant-related studies such as plant use in archaeological contexts and past landscapes in palaeoecology. This multi-disciplinarity combined with the specificities of phytoliths themselves (multiplicity, redundancy, naming issues) produces a wide variety of methodologies. Combined with a lack of data sharing and transparency in published studies, it means data are hard to find and understand, and therefore difficult to reuse.

Microlithic variation and the Mesolithic occupations of western India.

Considerable confusion and uncertainty persist on the cultural and chronological contexts of Holocene microlithic assemblages reported from South Asia. The paucity of securely dated sites with microlithic remains has compounded the confusion. Evidence from sites securely attributed to the Mesolithic based on a holistic approach (including direct evidence of plant and animal exploitation strategies) is needed to provide a better understanding of Mesolithic lithic tool-kits.

Microbotanical evidence of domestic cereals in Africa 7000 years ago.

The study of plant exploitation and early use of cereals in Africa has seen over the years a great input from charred and desiccated macrobotanical remains. This paper presents the results of one of the few examples in Africa of microbotanical analyses. Three grave contexts of phytolith-rich deposits and the dental calculus of 20 individuals were analysed from two Neolithic cemeteries in North and Central Sudan.