Karol Chandler-Ezell, PhD
A four-field cultural anthropologist whose paleoethnobotanical specialties are phytolith processing, analysis, and classification; starch grain processing; and methods of teaching phytolith analysis. Karol's areas of interest include ethnobotany, particularly ritual, medicinal, and nutritional plant use; medical anthropology, and Western subcultural movements. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Bill Grimm, MA
Bill's areas of interest include North American Southwest archaeology and the development of Chacoan society. His job with us included designing and maintaining this website, maintaining the database and keeping our computers running. He is a project director for a cultural resource management firm in Colorado working with Shawn Collins.

Shawn Collins, PhD student
Soon to be alumnus, Shawn is an archaeologist specializing in phytolith processing and analysis. Shawn's areas of interest include the American Southwest, Mesoamerican archaeology, agricultural intensification and technology, and using phytolith analysis to investigate the prehistoric use of landscapes. She has also done phytolith analysis on samples from the South Pacific. She is a lab director for a cultural resource management firm in Colorado working with Bill Grimm.

Amanda Logan, MA
Amanda is interested in early agriculture and the role of plants in social contexts in South America and Africa. For her undergraduate honors thesis, she analysed macroremains from central Ghana during the Kintampo period, with a focus on the role of oil palm. Her Master's project employed phytoliths and starch grains to get at tuber agriculture and hallucinogen use in the Formative period of Bolivia as part of the Taraco Archaeological Project. She is now at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor.

Tom Hart, MA
Tom's interest in anthropology is primarily focused on examining changes in landscape use through the study of both macro and microbotanical remains. Tom graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with BA degree in sociology and anthropology. While there, he became very involved with historical archaeology and was fascinated by the early colonization efforts of the English in the 17th century. His senior project at St. Mary’s College was the creation and analysis of a phytolith type collection of tree species that were used 17th century Maryland. Currently he has shifted his academic focus overseas and is working on a master’s thesis related to landscape use and food processing in early medieval England and Wales.