ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates one example where the examination of the macroscopic plant tissues from a core taken from Lake Tiraria, Mangaia Island, Polynesia, has been able to corroborate the interpretation based upon the palynological and sedimentological evidence. The core yielded a wide variety of macroscopic plant remains including wood, fruit structures and more fragile epidermal tissues. The interpretation of preserved plant micro- and macrofossil remains from lake cores in Polynesia, though on occasion problematical, has been able to achieve results that have not only advanced palaeoecological research but have also augmented and sometimes questioned what is known of both local and regional archaeology. Viable palaeoecological interpretation will only result from a direct comparison of results from palynological and plant macrofossil analyses and, where applicable, between these sub-fossil assemblages and wood charcoal remains. Progress is currently hindered by the limited availability of appropriate literature on plant macrofossil identification of local floras.
