Anthracological reference collection of palms of the Atlantic Forest (sensu stricto) of southern Brazil

Abstract

Comparative or taphonomic methods that help interpret and identify macro- and microbotanical remains based on reference collections have contributed significantly to expanding Brazilian archaeobotanical and archeological field methods. The present work had the objective of creating a carbonized carpological reference collection that emphasizes fruits from the family Arecaceae that occur in the Atlantic Forest (sensu stricto) of southern Brazil. To create the reference collection, six palm species native to the Atlantic Forest were selected that are widely distributed, occur on the coast of northeastern Santa Catarina and are found at innumerous archeological sites with the sambaqui typology. The selected species were Attalea dubia (Mart.) Burret, Bactris setosa Mart., Butia catarinensis Noblick and Lorenzi, Euterpe edulis Mart., Geonoma schottiana Mart. and Syagrus romanzoffiana (Cham.) Glassman. To conduct the taphonomic tests, 10 fresh fruits (with the pericarp) of each species were selected and submitted to combustion in a muffle furnace set at 400°C and 600°C for 30, 45 and 60 minutes. Ten manually depulped fruits of each species were submitted to the same treatment. The results demonstrated different rates of fragmentation among the carbonized fruits of the selected palm species. The fruits of A. dubia were notable for their well-preserved morphological structures and became completely carbonized after six hours at 600°C in the furnace. Similar results were also found for the fruits S. romanzoffiana.