Search

Original multidisciplinary research hereby clarifies the complex geodomestication pathways that generated the vast range of banana cultivars (cvs). Genetic analyses identify the wild ancestors of modern-day cvs and elucidate several key stages of domestication for different cv groups. Archaeology and linguistics shed light on the historical roles of people in the movement and cultivation of bananas from New Guinea to West Africa during the Holocene. The historical reconstruction of domestication processes is essential for breeding programs seeking to diversify and improve banana cvs for the future.

Recent reports indicate that phytoliths may provide direct archaeological evidence of banana cultivation. However, archaeologists may, in many places, recover phytoliths generated by banana plants with quite different historical backgrounds. Hence the need for a differentiation among phytoliths produced by specific banana groups. The present paper discusses the morphometric distinction between phytoliths produced by the constitutive diploid species Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. Our study suggests that domestication of the banana, which was initiated at the diploid M. acuminata level, does not appear to have influenced phytolith morphometry.

Morphometric analysis, the study of measurements of size and shape, has the potential to be an effective tool for phytolith analysis. This study reports the first attempt to apply the methodology to oats. In particular, this study was designed to determine if morphometric analysis could adequately discriminate between phytoliths produced in the inflorescence bracts of two species of oats, Avena sativa L. and Avena strigosa Schreb. Results indicate that while the taxa produce the same types of phytoliths, those phytoliths have significantly different measurements of size and shape. This suggests the technique has the potential to become a powerful research tool for investigators working in the wide variety of disciplines that utilize phytolith analysis.

Banana phytoliths are considered a suitable tool in archaeology to track the history of the human populations involved in banana cultivation and dispersal throughout the tropical world. This study is confined to an initial investigation of the species Musa acuminata Colla and of its edible diploid and triploid derivatives. Slight morphological and/or morphometrical differences of the volcaniform phytoliths can be expected because of the very complex and bi-specific phylogeny of the edible banana. A stepwise procedure in the analysis of these phytoliths is therefore required. Analysis of 21 samples covering a wide spectrum in genetic diversity, shows that banana phytolith diversity is linked to phylogeny. The results suggest that precise and reliable identification of phytoliths in archaeological contexts is possible, but that the examination of an additional set of samples is necessary to fully understand the extent of morphotypic variation and traits for diagnostic discrimination.