| MARCH 10, 2011 -- A University of Connecticut anthropology instructor has received a prestigious award to study ancient plant life at Middle Eastern archaeological sites and how early humans used the plants as food.
UConn assistant professor Alexia Smith's $400,000 award comes from the National Science Foundation.
Smith will use the money for botanical studies at archaeological sites in Syria, Turkey and Armenia.
Her work focuses on how ancient humans grew plants for food from about 6000 to 550 B.C.
That includes studying what they grew and how their economies and social structures adjusted when climate changes affected the food production.
Smith plans to bring preserved plant and seed samples back to UConn for study. Doctoral students will help with fieldwork and use the studies in their dissertations. |
