My interests are the interactions between humans and their environments. I am particularly interested in the ways in which people have used plant resources. This includes the domestication of plants, such as maize, beans and squash, but also the use of wild plants for food, ritual and medicine.

Since so few plant remains survive in the archaeological record, I have become involved in the identification of phytoliths. These are microscopic siliceous bodies that many plants (especially grasses, like wheat, rice, and maize) produce in and around their cells. When the plant decays, the phytoliths are left behind. The degree of taxonomic utility varies among phytolith types; but phytoliths are very resistant to degradation, and thus useful in contexts that would not otherwise preserve archaeological materials.

My research areas are the Southeastern and Midwestern U.S., and pretty much all of the Eastern Woodlands.  My work has focused on the recovery of phytoliths from food remains at archaeological sites and the comparison of these with modern and archaeological samples to provide plant identification.