Dolores Piperno, Pipernod@si.edu

Curator of New World Archaeology & Research Scientist

Research Interests

My research interests have mainly involved the archaeology and human ecology of the lowland American tropics together with the biogeographical and climatological history of the tropical biome. I have recently become engaged in archaeological research in southwest Asia. I primarily use plant microfossils (phytoliths, starch grains, and pollen) to investigate research problems, which prominently include the origins and dispersals of agriculture. My theoretical perspective is based in the intersection of evolution and ecology, especially the emerging field of Human Behavioral Ecology in archaeology and its role in formulating explanations of human behavior and adaptive change.

Current Research

Human Exploitation and domestication of plants

Current research involves building archaeological records of plant exploitation/domestication and crop plant dispersals. I am also examining the ecological contexts of plant domestication and human-environmental interactions through time by reconstructing environmental history with paleoecological records. During the past seven years I have carried out field work in the Balsas River Valley of southwest Mexico. My research in southwest Asia focuses on the Epipaleolithic through early Neolithic periods. I am using data accumulated from the Neotropics, southwest Asia, and elsewhere to examine on a comparative basis human life ways at the origins of agriculture and their antecedents. I am engaged in a collaborative, multiproxy study of paleoecological records from the Amazon Basin dating to the middle to late Holocene in order to examine questions relating to human demographic trends, landscape usage/modification, and human impacts on biodiversity.

Education and Degrees

B.S. in Medical Technology, Rutgers University, 1971.

M.A. in Anthropology, Temple University, 1979.

Ph.D.in Anthropology, Temple University, 1983.(Major advisor: Dr. Anthony Ranere).

Selected Bibliography

2007	Piperno, D.R., et al. Late Pleistocene and Holocene Environmental History of the Iguala Valley, Central Balsas Watershed of Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, in press.
2006	Piperno, D.R. The Origins of Plant Cultivation and Domestication in the Neotropics: A Behavioral Ecological Perspective. In Foraging Theory and the Transition to Agriculture, edited by Douglas Kennett and Bruce Winterhalder, pp. 137-166. University of California Press.
2006	Piperno, D.R. Phytoliths: A Comprehensive Guide for Archaeologists and Paleoecologists. AltaMira Press.
2006	Piperno, D. R., Quaternary environmental history and agricultural impact on vegetation in Central America. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 93: 274 - 296. PDF
2006	Piperno, D.R.; Prehistoric Human Occupation and Impacts on Neotropical Forest Landscapes. In Tropical Rainforest Responses to Climate Change, edited by John Flenley and Mark Bush, Cambridge University Press, pp. 193-218.
2005	Piperno, D. R. and H-D. Sues. Dinosaurs Dined on Grass. Science 310:1126-1128.
2004	Piperno, D.R., E. Weiss, I. Holst, and D. Nadel; Processing of Wild Cereal Grains in the Upper Paleolithic Revealed by Starch Grain Analysis. Nature 430:670-673. PDF
2003	Piperno, D.R. and J.Jones; Paleoecological and Archaeological Implications of a Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Record of Vegetation and Climate from the Pacific Coastal Plain of Panama. Quaternary Research 59:79-87.
2002	Piperno, D.R., T.C. Andres, and L. Wessel-Beaver; Evidence for the Control of Phytolith Formation in Cucurbita Fruits by the Hard Rind (Hr) Genetic Locus: Archaeological and Ecological Implications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 99:535-540. PDF
2000	Piperno, D.R. A.J. Ranere, I. Holst and P. Hansell; Starch Grains Reveal Early Root Crop Horticulture in the Panamanian Tropical Forest. Nature 407:894-897. PDF
1998	The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics, with D. Pearsall, Academic Press.
1997	Phytoliths and microscopic charcoal from Leg 155: A vegetational and fire history of the Amazon Basin during the last 75 K.Y. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Vol. 155, pp. 411-418, R.D. Flood, et al. editors.
1994	Phytolith and charcoal evidence for prehistoric slash and burn agriculture in the Darien rain forest of Panama. The Holocene 4:321-325.
1988	Phytolith analysis: An Archaeological and Geological Perspective, Academic Press.