  GAYLE J. FRITZ Professor, Archaeology Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1986 314-935-8588 Vita Paleoethnobotany Website Lab Guide to Archaeological Plant Remains gjfritz[at]artsci.wustl.edu |
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| GAYLE J. FRITZ Professor, Archaeology Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1986 314-935-8588 Vita Paleoethnobotany Website Lab Guide to Archaeological Plant Remains gjfritz[at]artsci.wustl.edu |
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My work explores past human-plant interrelationships through the excavation and analysis of archaeological plant remains. The cultural, biological, and ecological aspects of subsistence continuity and change are within the scope of this research. I am especially concerned with the processes and sequences leading to the development of agricultural systems in North America. In the Lower Mississippi Valley, I have been modeling the transition to farming made by sedentary fisher-gatherer-hunters. Because of Washington University's proximity to Cahokia and other archaeological sites in western Illinois, I've been drawn into American Bottom archaeology. Students, research assistants, and I have also analyzed samples from sites in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Chile, Peru, Greece, and Yugoslavia.
Recently I participated in new projects in Mexico (northern Chihuahua) and Arizona. In Chihuahua, I'm involved in the excavations at Cerro Juanaqueña, a terraced hill (trincheras) site dating to 3000 B.P., occupied by some of the earliest agricultural people in the Greater Southwest. In Arizona, I have studied archaeobotanical collections from Hohokam sites to assess the significance of cultigen amaranth and chenopod in the economies of ancient desert farmers. This westward shift allows me to participate in the study of subsistence change across North America during many different time periods. Another recent project involved working with Cherokee colleagues in eastern Oklahoma to interview modern makers of ku-nu-che, the traditional hickory nut soup, to gain ethnoarchaeological insights.
Advanced Paleoethnobotany, Experimental Paleoethnobotany, Pathways to Domestication (team-taught with colleagues), Selected Issues in North American Archaeology.
2008 The Transition to Agriculture in the Desert Borderlands: An Introduction. In Archaeology Without Borders: Contact, Commerce, and Change in the U.S. Southwest and Northwestern Mexico, edited by L. D. Webster and M. E. McBrinn, pp. 25-33 University Press of Colorado, Boulder.
2007 Keepers of Louisiana’s Levees: Early Moundbuilders and Forest Managers. In Rethinking Agriculture: Archaeological and Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives, edited by T.P. Denham, José Iriarte, and Luc Vrydags, pp. 338-368. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek.
2007 Pigweeds for the Ancestors: Cultural Identities and Archaeological Identification Methods. In The Archaeology of Food and Identity, edited by K.C. Twiss, pp. 288-307. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Occasional Paper No. 34. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
2007 (G. J. Fritz and N. H. Lopinot) Native Crops at Early Cahokia: Comparing Domestic and Ceremonial Contexts. In People, Plants, and Animals: Archaeological Studies of Hunan-Environment Interactions in the Midcontinent, Essays in Honor of Leonard W. Blake, edited by R. E. Warren.Illinois Archaeology 15 & 16 (for 2003-2004):90-111.
2006 Introduction and Spread of Mexican Crops. In Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 3, edited by D. Ubelaker and B. D. Smith, pp. 437-446. Government Printing Office, Washington D.C.
2005 (D. L. Browman, G. J. Fritz, and P. J. Watson) Origins of Food-Producing Economies in the Americas. In The Human Past, edited by Christopher Scarre, pp. 306-349. Thames and Hudson, London.
2005 Paleoethnobotanical Methods and Applications. In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, edited by Herbert D.G. Maschner and Christopher Chippindale, pp. 771-832. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, CA.
2001 (G. J. Fritz, V. D. Whitekiller, and J. W. McIntosh) Ethnobotany of Ku-Nu-Che: Cherokee Hickory Nut Soup. Journal of Ethnobiology 21(2):1-27.
2000 Levels of biodiversity in eastern North America. In Biodiversity and Native America, edited by P. E. Minnis and W. Elisens, pp. 223-247. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
2000 Native farming systems and ecosystems in the Mississippi River Valley. In Imperfect Balance: Landscape Transformations in the Pre-columbian Americas, edited by D. Lentz, pp. 225-250.
1999 Gender and the Early Cultivation of Gourds in Eastern North America. American Antiquity 64(3):417-429.
