 In the lab...
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I received my Masters degree in 2007 from The Ohio State University, under the direction of Dr. Kristen Gremillion. My degree is in North American archaeology with a specialization in Paleoethnobotany. (resume pdf) My research interests lie in the diet and subsistence strategies of prehistoric cultures of the Eastern Woodlands. And in my quest to understand what domestic and subsistence-based activity looks like in the archaeological record, I use a combination of various experiences. Primarily, I use an ever-expanding archaeobotanical database from CRM and other research projects that I am involved in throughout the Eastern United States. And as a very important secondary component, I combine my nutrition knowledge with some experimental archaeobotany to gain an understanding of growth habits and plant use of prehistorically-grown native seed cultigens as well as plants used for fiber, dye, and medicine. The garden plots of native historic and prehistorically grown plants that I developed on the grounds of the Ohio Historical Society are also used to educate school children. From my days as an undergraduate and still on-going are my occasional “weekend warrior” ventures, with Jarrod Burks and the Ohio Earthworks Project, into the hinterlands of Ohio to map out earthworks long ago destroyed by the plow, using geophysics technologies. Although weather conditions typically include rain, snow, or sleet and days last from sun-up until well past sundown, it is always refreshing and awe-inspiring to reconnect with the landscape at the sites of these ancient monuments. On a personal note, I am a transplanted Canadian and single Mom with a son in college and a daughter in high school. I grew up in the small prairie towns of Manitoba, finally landing in the capital city of Winnipeg to begin my middle school years. As a young adult I moved to Calgary, Alberta and enjoyed living in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains along with all of the outdoor activity that comes along with such a fantastic landscape. Calgary is where I got married and had my children, before moving to the United States to pursue my husband’s post-doctoral scientific career. We eventually landed in Ohio, which, as a winter-hardened canuck, I call - “the banana belt." I thoroughly enjoy the Ohio seasons, including the one called ‘football’ - and have since learned to tailgate and make buckeyes!
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