中文摘要：

目前古代淀粉粒鉴别的两种方法，即显微镜观察法和碘着色测试法，均不能确保鉴别的准确性。针对耐热性α-淀粉酶只对淀粉产生降解的特点，设计出古代淀粉粒鉴别的“耐热性α-淀粉酶降解法”，并运用到考古样品中淀粉粒的分析和鉴定之中。本文详细介绍了耐热性α-淀粉酶降解法的原理和流程，并通过古代淀粉粒的鉴别实验，确定了该方法在确切鉴别考古样品中淀粉粒的实用性和有效性；同时现代大麦和莲藕淀粉粒的降解实验结果表明不同植物来源以及同种植物内部不同粒径的淀粉粒其降解速率存在明显差异，而古代淀粉粒在耐热性α-淀粉酶作用下出现的降解速率差异的现象，或可揭示古代淀粉粒的植物来源，甚至长期埋藏对其产生的影响。

英文摘要：

Starch granules are identified by the stains and the extinction cross（Maltese cross） , wmcn can be seen under the polarized light to date. However, both methods have their defects and ancient starch cannot be identified accurately this way. Considering the thermostable alpha-amylase,which is specifically to degrade starch, it is an effective method to identify ancient starch with this enzyme. Two kinds of modern starches from barley and lotus root were chosen for degradation with the thermostable alpha-amylase. They were both degraded and the rates of degradation of two samples were different. The result may show that the rates of degradation from different plants should be different. Meantime, although most of starch granules from barley and lotus root were degraded completely after twenty minutes and one hundred and twenty minutes heating respectively, there survived some smaller granules from each sample. This phenomenon indicates that the size of starch granule may affect the rate of degradation. Based on the degradation of modern starch,ancient suspicious starch from denta｜ calculus were a｜so degraded with the alpha-amylase to test whether this method is effective. These materials were degraded and the result shows that they were definitely starch granules. It should be noted that there were also some smaller starch granules which were not degraded completely after heating. This result is consistent with the modern starch samples and indicates that the size of starch granule may have some effects on its preservation. Modern and ancient starch degradation experiments show that degradation of ancient starch with the thermostable alpha-amylase is an effective method to identify them. Furthermore,this method may also provide some information on diagenesis and plant origins of ancient starch.