Paleoethnobotany Study
In 2013, Anthropology graduate student Jessica Herlich contacted WILLI staff to assist with collection of reference plant materials for a study looking at plant phytolith and starch grain analysis. Herlich's advisor is Dr. Shanta Morel-Hart, who was a VIsiting Assistant Professor in Anthropology and now is an Assistant Professor at McMaster University. WILLI Curator Beth Chambers helped collect materials from herbarium vouchers and from in situ plants that Herlich used to determine the taxon of elements as part of her archaeobotanical analysis.
In 2015, a Herlich and Morel-Hart published a paper Visualization and Collaborative Practice in Paleoethnobotany in the SAA Archaelogical Record documenting their study with an emphasis on how collaborative methods enhance their study's impact, which included a description of the contributions of herbarium staff to their research.
