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Phytolith assemblages from palm leaves and palm-leaf manuscripts: what is the difference and what it could mean?

  • We studied freshly collected, dried and herbarized leaf fragments of two palms, namely Borassus flabellifer L. and Corypha umbraculifera L., most commonly used for palm-leaf manuscript (PLM) production in South (S) and Southeast Asia (SE) in order to reveal differences in their phytolith assemblages. For each of the two palms, 25 leaf samples were taken from the two Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Dried leaf material was obtained from the fresh one by drying the leaves in air. Herbarium samples were obtained from two independent herbaria, specimen origin comprises S and SE Asia with the main focus on South India and Sri Lanka. Additionally, 25 manuscripts made of Borassus flabellifer leaves and 25 manuscripts made of Corypha umbraculifera leaves were investigated for phytoliths. All manuscripts are preliminary dated back to between the 16th and the beginning of the 20th century CE; most of them assumedly were produced in S India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala), Sri Lanka, Burma orWe studied freshly collected, dried and herbarized leaf fragments of two palms, namely Borassus flabellifer L. and Corypha umbraculifera L., most commonly used for palm-leaf manuscript (PLM) production in South (S) and Southeast Asia (SE) in order to reveal differences in their phytolith assemblages. For each of the two palms, 25 leaf samples were taken from the two Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Dried leaf material was obtained from the fresh one by drying the leaves in air. Herbarium samples were obtained from two independent herbaria, specimen origin comprises S and SE Asia with the main focus on South India and Sri Lanka. Additionally, 25 manuscripts made of Borassus flabellifer leaves and 25 manuscripts made of Corypha umbraculifera leaves were investigated for phytoliths. All manuscripts are preliminary dated back to between the 16th and the beginning of the 20th century CE; most of them assumedly were produced in S India (Tamil Nadu and Kerala), Sri Lanka, Burma or Indonesia. Phytolith assemblages significantly differed between fresh, dry and herbarized palm leaves in comparison to PLM material, both qualitatively and quantitatively (mean r2 = - 0.61 ± 9.3 for Borassus samples and r2 = - 0.75 ± 5.3 for Corypha samples, at p < 0.001). Fifty-three phytolith types described for PLM material were not observed in any of the fresh, dry or herbarized palm-leaf samples. Geographical analysis of PLM-specific phytoliths suggests that the combination of those phytoliths could be region-related. In this paper, we prove that the methods of palaeoecological reconstructions based on detailed microscopy of the PLMs surface and phytolith analysis applied in combination with methods of mathematical and computer data analysis can contribute to answer the questions posed by material codicology by revealing lost manuscript production recipes and by studying manuscript provenance in terms of the geographical origin of the artefacts. Our approach can potentially open a new perspective for palaeoecological studies expanding their traditional scope and making them applicable to a new research field.zeige mehrzeige weniger

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Metadaten
Autor*innen:A. Poliakova, G. Ciotti, Agnieszka Helman-Wazny, J. Fromm
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenartikel
Veröffentlichungsform:Verlagsliteratur
Sprache:Englisch
Titel des übergeordneten Werkes (Englisch):Frontiers in Plant Science
Jahr der Erstveröffentlichung:2025
Organisationseinheit der BAM:4 Material und Umwelt
4 Material und Umwelt / 4.5 Kunst- und Kulturgutanalyse
Veröffentlichende Institution:Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM)
Verlag:Frontiers Media SA
Jahrgang/Band:15
Aufsatznummer:1482790
Erste Seite:1
Letzte Seite:29
DDC-Klassifikation:Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / Ingenieurwissenschaften / Sanitär- und Kommunaltechnik; Umwelttechnik
Freie Schlagwörter:Material codicology; Palaeoecology; Palm-leaf manuscripts
Themenfelder/Aktivitätsfelder der BAM:Umwelt
Umwelt / Umwelt-Material-Interaktionen
DOI:10.3389/fpls.2024.1482790
URN:urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-652517
ISSN:1664-462X
Verfügbarkeit des Dokuments:Datei für die Öffentlichkeit verfügbar ("Open Access")
Lizenz (Deutsch):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International
Datum der Freischaltung:22.12.2025
Referierte Publikation:Ja
Datum der Eintragung als referierte Publikation:22.12.2025
Schriftenreihen ohne Nummerierung:Wissenschaftliche Artikel der BAM
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