Taro (Colocasia esculenta): A Multi-Proxy Experimental Approach Towards Improving Detection in Archaeological Contexts across the Indo-Pacific

Rebecca Wilson1*, Mathieu Leclerc1,2, Anna Florin1,2, and Alison Crowther3,4,5

Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a staple vegetative food crop in the Indo-Pacific region and is central to past and present horticultural systems. Vegetative crops have historically been challenging to detect in archaeological contexts. Evidence for early cultivation and use of taro has centred on studies of plant microfossil remains, including starch and calcium oxalate crystals, which whilst fundamental to our understandings of Pacific foodways, are limited by issues of preservation and contamination. Recently, new approaches for detecting taro have been developed, including sedimentary lipid analysis. This paper presents preliminary results from a multi-proxy experimental research project combining archaeobotanical (macro- and micro-fossils) and lipid analyses, which aims to improve the detection of taro in archaeological contexts and to overcome the limitations associated with relying on a single methodology. Experimental cooking and charring of taro were conducted to better understand the chemical and physical transformations it undergoes when cooked/processed, and how these processes affect its preservation and identification in archaeological contexts. These experiments provide crucial reference materials to investigate how macrofossils, microfossils and lipid markers can be identified in the archaeological record to investigate past diets, culinary behaviours, and subsistence practices.