Although silicon occurs in all plants, it is an element that is largely overlooked by many plant
ecologists and most plant-related research on silicon comes from agronomy, archaeology …

Since Darwin situated humans in an evolutionary framework, much discussion has focused
on environmental factors that may have shaped or influenced the course of human …

Background Opal phytoliths (microscopic silica bodies produced in and between the cells of
many plants) are a very resilient, often preserved type of plant microfossil. With the …

Although climate change is considered to have been a large-scale driver of African human
evolution, landscape-scale shifts in ecological resources that may have shaped novel …

The earliest evidence of agriculture in the Horn of Africa dates to the Pre-Aksumite period
(ca. 1600 BCE). Domesticated C3 cereals are considered to have been introduced from the …

This paper outlines a general approach for analyzing siliceous microfossils from plants
(phytoliths) in geologic sediments and uses this method to reconstruct the evolution of …

Accurate estimates of historical forest extent and associated deforestation rates are crucial
for quantifying tropical carbon cycles and formulating conservation policy. In Africa, data …

The emergence of the Acheulian stone tool industry, between 1· 7 and 1· 5m. ya, constitutes
one of the earliest evidences of complex behavior in the process of human evolution. The …

Phytoliths, microscopic plant silica bodies, are often preserved in modern and fossil soils
and sediment, as well as in archaeological contexts. They record unique characteristics of …

The assembly of Africa's iconic C4 grassland ecosystems is central to evolutionary
interpretations of many mammal lineages, including hominins. C4 grasses are thought to …