부산대학교 도서관

Most charring experiments are carried out in the muffle furnace in highly controlled conditions and tackle the taphonomic issues of seed shrinkage and distortion caused by carbonisation. This paper presents the results from charring experiments conducted using real fire conditions. The objective of this study is to reproduce the charring processes that occur naturally and so address the issue of preservation biases which occurred in prehistoric contexts of carbonisation. This is particularly important in addressing the possible overrepresentation of rice over other taxa in the archaeological record. Prior charring experiments focus on Old World crops, but in this study the taxa used are East, South and Southeast Asian cereals and pulses. An ethnographic study conducted in Thailand examining the rice processing stages of dehusking and winnowing is also included since differential preservation may also result from crop processing. Archaeological results from sites in Mainland Southeast Asia are then interpreted using the results of the charring experiments and the ethnographic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]