David
L. Lentz
My research focuses on paleoethnobotany and ethnomedical botany. I have conducted
field research throughout Central America, studying the ancient indigenous cultures
of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Mexico, and El Salvador. I have investigated and
written about the way indigenous people, including the Jicaque, Paya, and the
Kekchi-Maya cultures, use plants. In addition to Mesoamerican initiatives, I have
completed paleoethnobotanical research in India and North America, studying the
differences in dietary habits among socioeconomic groups. Also, I am extremely
interested in the ways early cultures manipulated their environment through their
agricultural and other land-use practices.
Combining botanical field work and molecular genetic approaches, I am
currently studying wild sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) populations
in Mexico in an attempt to discover the ancestral origins of modern domesticated
sunflower. Throughout these studies, I pay particular attention to patterns
of plant use by extant indigenous cultures as well as the archaeobotanical
remains from extinct cultures. I have been awarded grants from the National
Science Foundation, the National Institutes
of Health, and private industry. With this support, I have published
more than 60 articles in professional journals and books.
- Director of Graduate Studies
-
Ph.D. University of Alabama (1984).
-
Director, Electron Microscopy Facility, Associate Professor, University
of Mississippi (1984-1993); Adjunct Assistant Professor, Millsaps College
(1987-1993).
-
Director of Graduate Studies Program, The New York Botanical Garden (1993-present
); Adjunct Curator, Institute of Economic Botany (1993- present).
-
Adjunct Professor, Plant Sciences Program, Lehman College, City University
of New York (1993-present).
-
Visiting Research Associate Professor, Department of Biology, New York
University (1995-present ).
-
Adjunct Associate Professor, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation,
Columbia University (1995- present).
-
Associate Professor Adjunct, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies,
Yale University (1995-present).
E-mail Address: dlentz@nybg.org
Selected Publications
- Lentz, D.L., M.E.D. Pohl, K.O. Pope, and A.R. Wyatt. 2001. Prehistoric
sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) domestication in Mexico. Economic
Botany 55(3): 370-377.
- Pope, K.O., M.E.D. Pohl, J.G. Jones, D.L. Lentz, C. von Nagy, F.J. Vega,
and I.R. Quitmeyer. 2001. Origin and environmental setting of ancient agriculture
in the Lowlands of Mesoamerica. Science 292: 1370-1373.
- Lentz, D.L. 2000. Paleoethnobotanical remains from western Morelos. In:
The Xochicalco Mapping Project, Hirth, K.G., ed., pp. 193-196. University
of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
- Lentz, D.L., ed. 2000. Imperfect Balance: Landscape Transformations
in the Precolumbian Americas. Columbia University Press, New York, 567
pp.
- Lentz, D. L. 2000. Symbolism and function at the Mahtab Bagh: The botanical
component. In: The Moonlight Garden, New Discoveries at the Taj Mahal,
Moynihan, E., ed., Sackler Gallery Occasional Papers, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.
