ORGANIC RESIDUE (FTIR) AND STARCH ANALYSES OF PREHISTORIC CERAMICS FROM THE DURST SITE (36SO388), SOMERSET COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Twenty precontact ceramic sherds from the Durst Site (36SO388) in southwestern Pennsylvania were submitted for organic residue analysis (Table 1). Samples were tested using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Of these twenty ceramic sherds, ten were also examined for starch grains as a result of promising evidence of food residues from FTIR analysis. FTIR analysis provides information concerning the compounds that were extracted from the sherd. Information concerning foods that might have been cooked in the vessels represented is derived from matches with our reference library of processed plants and animals, while information concerning the environment is inferred from matches with our reference library of raw plants and animals. Evidence for food processing involving starchy seeds from wild grass taxa, along with the utilization of the primary starch repositories of plants (tubers, stolons, and rhizomes), is offered by starch analysis.