Phytolith aided paleoenvironmental studies fromthe Dutch Neolithic

There is increasing evidence for crop cultivationat sites of the Neolithic Swifterbant culture fromca. 4300 B.C. onwards. Presence of cereal fields at theSwifterbant S2, S3 and S4 sites has been corroborated frommicro morphological studies of soil samples. Swifterbantsites with evidence for cultivated plants are still scarcethough and only emerging, and have produced very lownumbers of charred cereals only. The major aim of ourwork was to elucidate the environmental background ofthe Dutch Neolithic site Swifterbant S4 based on the investigationof phytolith remains retrieved from soil samples.I... Mehr ...