Archaeobotanical collections

The Sheffield RICHeS Archaeobotany collections has state of the art facilities for the analysis and identification of charred seeds, wood charcoal, pollen, phytoliths, and starch.

Off

Our extensive seed reference collection contains a wide range of Near Eastern and European wild plants and is particularly focused on the old world crop assemblage. We also have a modern charred wood reference collection, a large pollen collection, and phytolith and starch collections. 

Together with modern reference collections we have an up to date archaeobotany library with the key identification manuals and technical books for each type of plant remain.

The archaeobotany collections are supported by microscopes and equipment suited to a range of archaeobotanical analyses. There is a range of stereomicroscopes in the centre for analysis of plant macroremains. For wood charcoal research we have a darkfield Meiji MX microscope. There are a number of transmitted light microscopes suitable for pollen and others with polarising capabilities for starch and phytolith work. For all types of plant remains the centre has image analysis equipment suitable for publication quality photography.  For extended depth of focus imaging, there is a Leica MZ205C microscope with RICHeS funded 3KC camera and LAS X software for creating z-stacked images capable of 3-D surface analysis. 

The archaeobotany reference collections are organised by plant part and material type.

  • Seed Reference collection:  Organised by family and separated into wild and economic plants, the seed reference collections contain thousands of seed accessions.  The collection includes seeds of plants from Britain, the Mediterranean and Western Asia.  
  • Wood charcoal reference collection:  Charred trunk and branch wood of common species from Britain and the Mediterranean.  
  • Root and Tuber reference collection:  Charred examples of roots and tubers from Britain.
  • Pollen reference collection: Slide collection of common European taxa. 
  • Starch reference collection: Slide reference collection of starch from economic plants.
  • Phytolith reference collection:  Slide reference collection of phytoliths from economic plants.  
  • Waterlogged remains reference collection:  Waterlogged seeds, fruits and plant tissues for material commonly found in archaeological deposits.