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Gayle J. Fritz

American paleoethnobotanist

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Gayle J. Fritz is an American paleoethnobotanist working out of Washington University in St. Louis. She is a world expert on ancient crops.^[1] Fritz runs the Paleoethnobotany Lab at Washington University in St. Louis under the auspices of the Anthropology Department.

Biography[edit]

Fritz received her M.A at the University of Texas at Austin, 1975. She received her Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1986.^[2]

Her work focuses on crops other than maize, such as chenopodium and amaranth, and emphasizes the importance of direct radiocarbon dating when establishing the models of early agriculture.^[3] She also proposes a diversity of pathways from hunting-gathering to agriculture, highly dependent on regional variations and the intricacies of local cultures, and explores the role of women in early societies, often challenging a "Big Chief" model of hierarchical dominance. Her research interests include grain amaranth, chenopod, maygrass, tobacco, and hickory nuts.^[2]

Selected works[edit]

• Browman, D. L., Fritz, G. J., and Watson, P. J.: "Origins of Food-Producing Economies in the Americas." In The Human Past, edited by Christopher Scarre (2005), pp. 306–349. Thames and Hudson, London.
• Fritz, G. J.: "Paleoethnobotanical Methods and Applications." In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, edited by Herbert D. G. Maschner and Christopher Chippindale (2005), pp. 771–832. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, California.
• Fritz, G. J. and Lopinot, N. H.: "Native Crops at Early Cahokia: Comparing Domestic and Ceremonial Contexts". Illinois Archaeology 14, in press.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Gayle J. Fritz home page at WUSTL

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