Castles and Coprolites

For 2015 I have decided to replace my Micrograph of the Month feature with Microfossil of the Month. I will likely return to the thin section micrographs at some point, but as I am going to be working on phytolith and ash samples for most of this year, I figured it would make sense to feature some of these on the blog! Who knows how long I will be able to keep it up - from past experience of the sites I am working on, I may be limited in the range of examples that I will find! As a refresher (and for those of you new to the blog), microfossils are any fossil remains that are too small to see easily with the naked eye, but can be identified under the microscope. I work on plant microfossils, specifically silica phytoliths, which are 3D 'impressions' of plant cells and tissue. When the plant is alive, it takes up silica from the ground, which is then deposited inside and between the cells, forming 3D replicas of the cells that preserve when the organic part of the plant decays. T...

Bulliform cells in modern Zea mays tissue (source: Visuals Unlimited, Inc) Fellow animal dung enthusiast Sarah Elliot at the University of Bournemouth shared this fab little article describing the use of 'Eco goats' to manage invasive plants in the US . It is especially interesting that they note the use of goats as a pesticide-free way to manage Phragmites reeds. These reeds have distinctive phytoliths which archaeologists call 'keystone' bulliforms, which are relatively large single cell phytoliths that are named as they are said to resemble a Roman keystone arch in cross section.  In transverse section they look a bit sausage shaped, and within a plant these cells are 'stacked' next to each other as part of the upper epidermis (the plant 'skin'), and are related to water storage. If you're a botanist you might also call these motor cells, because during times of water stress, they shrink and cause leaves to fold or curl up. Phragmites phytoli...

A nice bit of good news for the end of the year - I was recently appointed as assistant editor and social media editor for Landscape Research , the academic journal of the Landscape Research Group , which is published by Routledge. This means that in addition to normal editorial duties (assessing manuscripts, assigning reviewers, encouraging a quality and speedy publication process), I am also responsible for developing the social media profile of the journal. In particular, I hope to build the audience in the archaeological community, and encourage collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to researching and understanding landscapes. I blogged recently about how I jump in between disciplinary pigeon-holes , and the study of landscape is an area that falls into many categories. The individual elements of a landscape are from the past and present, the natural and the cultural, the tangible and the intangible. In order to understand the landscape as a whole, we need to investigate th...