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Climatic reconstruction using wood charcoal from archaeological sites
Bibliography: pages 87-98.
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| Main Author: | |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Archaeology
2016
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| _version_ | 1867614067521224704 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | February, Edmund Carl |
| author2 | Parkington, John |
| author_browse | February, Edmund Carl Parkington, John |
| author_facet | Parkington, John February, Edmund Carl |
| author_sort | February, Edmund Carl |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Bibliography: pages 87-98. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/19516 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:46:09.154Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Department of Archaeology |
| publisherStr | Department of Archaeology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/19516 Climatic reconstruction using wood charcoal from archaeological sites February, Edmund Carl Parkington, John Archaeology Bibliography: pages 87-98. This thesis assesses the feasibility of using wood charcoal from archaeological sites as a palaeoclimatic indicator. Three techniques are described: (i) charcoal identification from Xylem Anatomy. (ii) Ecologically Diagnostic Xylem Analysis and (iii) stable carbon isotope analysis on wood charcoal. The first is a well established method of environmental reconstruction. This is the first systematic application of Ecologically Diagnostic Analysis and the first application of stable carbon isotope analysis on wood charcoal. Charcoal identification shows that the most common woody species at Elands Bay today are also evident in the archaeological record over the last 4000 years, indicating a relatively stable plant community composition. Previous studies of wood anatomy have shown that there are links between vessel size, vessel number and climate. This study demonstrates that the wood anatomy of Rhus is not simply related to climatic factors, necessitating the employment of a wide range of statistical analytical techniques to identify climatic signals. In contrast, the anatomy of Diospyros shows strong correlations with temperature. Factor analysis of anatomical parameters of charcoal from Elands Bay archaeological sites indicates that there have been temperature changes over the last 4000 years. Stable carbon isotope ratios (¹³C/¹²C) of plants have been found to be a useful indicator of water use efficiency; plants in drier habitats exhibit more positive values than their more mesic relatives. The results of an isotopic analysis on modern wood charcoal show that ¹³C/¹²C ratios can be related to temperature and rainfall. The climatic component of the range in variation of ¹³C/¹²C in the archaeological record is not as easy to identify due to increased use of fossil fuels since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Indications are that wood charcoal does carry a climatic signal. A larger sample from more areas may give more dependable results. 2016-05-09T08:59:00Z 2016-05-09T08:59:00Z 1990 Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19516 eng application/pdf Department of Archaeology Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Archaeology February, Edmund Carl Climatic reconstruction using wood charcoal from archaeological sites |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Climatic reconstruction using wood charcoal from archaeological sites |
| title_full | Climatic reconstruction using wood charcoal from archaeological sites |
| title_fullStr | Climatic reconstruction using wood charcoal from archaeological sites |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climatic reconstruction using wood charcoal from archaeological sites |
| title_short | Climatic reconstruction using wood charcoal from archaeological sites |
| title_sort | climatic reconstruction using wood charcoal from archaeological sites |
| topic | Archaeology |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19516 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT februaryedmundcarl climaticreconstructionusingwoodcharcoalfromarchaeologicalsites |