Microarqueobotânica no Museu Nacional, UFRJ: estado da arte de uma disciplina inovadora e primeiros resultados de estudos recentes

Abstract

The first microarchaeobotanicalstudies, although not known by this name at the time, date back to the beginning of the 20th century. However, the analysis of phytoliths and starch grains recovered from Brazilian archaeological contexts only started to flourish a little over a decade ago. There are still few groups that study these micro-remains in the country. One of the pioneers is part of the Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. In this paper we present a brief historical background of the field in Brazil and the trajectory of this line of research at the Museu Nacional, including the preliminary results of two recent projects.