Description
Macrofossils such as seeds and shells are excellent resources for reconstructing past environments. This paper reviews diagnostic characteristics and presents microphotographs of fossil and modern specimens of taxa commonly encountered in near-stream sediment samples from a southern Alberta flood investigation program. The goal of this paper is to provide critical identification information about the target taxa to non-specialists. We hope that this will promote the further collection of macroremain-rich samples and provide a foundational approach for describing seeds and shells. Part of the 37th volume of the Archaeological Survey of Alberta Occasional Paper series, which contains 18 articles exploring multiple facets of the impact on archaeological resources of the 2013 flood in southern Alberta.