A method to identify Job's tears, Coix lacryma-jobi L., phytoliths in northern China

This paper presents a quantitative method to distinguish Job's tears, Coix lacryma-jobi L., phytoliths from other wild and cultivated grasses in northern China. The method is based on previously developed techniques to identify maize in the neotropics, but here it is adapted to temperate northern China where maize was not cultivated until recent historic times. Job's tears is a very ancient and important food source in East Asia. Its presence in northern China has been documented through starch grain analyses. We add a method for identifying Job's tears phytoliths that will enhance our understanding of Job's tears use in prehistory and possibly its distribution and domestication over time.