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Ancient starch research illuminates aspects of human ecology and economic botany that drove human evolution and cultural complexity over time, with a special emphasis on past technology, diet, health, and adaptation to changing environments and socio-economic systems. However, lapses in prevailing starch research demonstrate the exaggerated expectations for the field that have been generated over the last few decades, including an absence of explanation for the millennial survivability of a biochemically degradable polymer, and difficulties in proving authenticity and taxonomic identification. These flaws perpetuate skepticism and place credibility at risk. By applying new criteria and using a model that puts greater emphasis on detailed authentication procedures, including bio-geochemical characterization, starch granule preservation pathways will be clarified. Future work must consider growing demands from readers, editors, and reviewers that look for objective compositional identification of putatively ancient starch granules.