Seasonal Marker
Definition
A pollen type with a well-defined flowering season, used to estimate the time of year at which a person or object was in a given environment.
- Basis
- Pollen type with a defined flowering season
- Use
- Estimating time of year of exposure
- Field
- Forensic palynology
- Application
- Trace and provenance evidence on a person or object
Common questions
How precise can a time-of-year estimate from a seasonal marker actually be?+
Precision depends on the plant's flowering window, which can be as narrow as a few weeks for some species or span several months for others, and it also depends on local climate variation between years, so estimates are usually reported as a season or a bounded date range rather than an exact day.
Why use multiple seasonal markers together rather than relying on a single pollen type?+
A single pollen grain could arrive on an item at any point through wind transport, contamination, or long persistence in dust, but a consistent assemblage of several species with overlapping flowering windows narrows the likely period far more reliably than one marker alone.
Can a seasonal marker also indicate geographic location, not just time of year?+
Yes, because a given plant species only flowers where it grows, the same pollen grain that dates an event can also restrict the possible geographic origin, which is why forensic palynology often combines seasonal and provenance conclusions from the same evidence.
Related terms
- Grave-Fill Inversion
- The mixing or reversal of pollen stratigraphy caused by digging and backfilling a clandestine grave. Older, deeper pollen types brought to the...
- Pollen Assemblage
- The full complement of pollen and spore types recovered together from a sample, characterised by species identity and relative abundance. Assemblages are...
- Pollen Stratigraphy
- The analysis of pollen assemblages at different depth horizons within the grave fill to establish a seasonal or annual chronology. A pollen...
- Provenance
- The documented origin of a media file: the device that captured it, the time and location of capture, the chain of custody...
- Transfer Assemblage
- The pollen recovered from clothing, a vehicle, or a body that reflects the environments the item or person has been in through...