Acta Palaeobotanica 35(1): 167-173, 1995

Attempts to identify 8000-bp sorghum using image-analysis, infrared spectroscopy, and biotechnological procedures.

Summary: Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) with consistent radiocarbon dates of 8000 yrs bp have been excavated at an early Holocene archaeological site (E-75-6) at Nabta Playa near the Egyptian-Sudanese border. The objective of this research effort is to classify these sorghums within the known wild or domesticated races or working groups through the use of infrared spectroscopy, and biotechnological and image-analysis procedures. Preliminary results are discussed and evaluated. While intriguing, all these results must be regarded as highly speculative until a more detailed study of modern sorghum is completed. Of the three methods described, image-analysis coupled with infrared spectroscopy may offer the best hope of identifying the material in a non-destructive manner.

Keywords: sorghum, Nabta Playa, 8000-bp, infrared spectroscopy, image-analysis, DNA isolation, biotechnology, archaeology