D M Pearsall

Biographic Data

ID58027
NAMED M Pearsall
GIVEN NAMESD M
FAMILY NAMEPearsall
SIGNATUREPEARSALL D M
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Missouri
ORCID0000-0002-6114-7220
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS47
TOTAL CITATIONS628
AUTHOR COUNT47
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1978
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2024
H-INDEX14

  • Lucayan charred wood selection patterns

    Open AccessMary Jane Berman, D M Pearsall et al.ARTICLEVegetation History and…2024References: 25

    While Lucayan exploitation of their marine environment is relatively well understand, less is known about terrestrial resource utilization, particularly of the floristic environment. Lucayans are the earliest permanent Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahama archipelago, which has suffered significant terrestrial habitat changes through time due to natural and anthropogenic factors. In this study we examined 878 wood charcoal specimens (21 taxa; 19 …

  • Paleoethnobotany as Ethnobotany as Paleoethnobotany

    Open AccessD M PearsallARTICLEJournal of Ethnobiology2023

    Paleoethnobotany and ethnobotany are closely intertwined. Ethnobotany provides a key interpretive framework for understanding past plant–people interrelationships through the archaeological record, and this understanding of the past provides the foundation for understanding present-day relationships between people and the natural world

  • Plant resource diversity in the ethnobotanical record of precolonial Puerto Rico

    Open AccessP E Siegel, D M PearsallARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2023References: 22

  • The impact of maize on subsistence systems in South America

    D M PearsallCHAPTEREmergence of Agriculture2020

    In the case of the tropical lowlands, for example, maize was introduced into subsistence systems that were likely based primarily upon tuber and root resources and tree fruits, rather than on small-seeded annuals. In this chapter, the author discusses a case study from the lowlands of western Ecuador, the Jama Valley Archaeological-Palaeoethnobotanical Project, to illustrate one approach to understanding this complex process of innovation in subs…

  • Stahl, Peter W.

    Open AccessD M PearsallCHAPTEREncyclopedia of Global Archaeology2020

  • Crop Dispersal and Lucayan Tool Use

    Mary Jane Berman, D M PearsallARTICLEJournal of Field Archaeology2020Cited by: 2References: 42

    Starch grain, phytolith, and macrobotanical evidence is expanding our understanding of the Lucayan transported landscape, plant food preparation, and cooking practices. Starch grain analyses reveal that the early colonists (a.d. 700/800–1100) of the central Bahamas brought a package of domesticated plants comprised of Calathea latifolia, Capsicum sp., Cucurbitaceae, Manihot esculenta, and Zea mays from their ancestral homelands, which they proces…

  • Food and Society at Real Alto, an Early Formative Community in Southwest Coastal Ecuador

    Open AccessD M Pearsall, Neil A Duncan et al.ARTICLELatin American Antiquity2020Cited by: 6References: 24

    We investigated foodways at Real Alto, an early Formative (4400-1800 BC) Valdivia site in coastal Ecuador, using starch and phytoliths recovered from 50 stone tools from three residential and two ceremonial structures, as well as 46 human dental calculus samples, to explore how food reflects the social relationships and economy of the community. Maize was important in daily meals and ceremonial foods by the Middle Valdivia (2800-2400 BC), but it …

  • Human–environment interactions during the early mid-Holocene in coastal Ecuador as revealed by mangrove coring in Santa Elena Province

    Open AccessD M Pearsall, Neil A Duncan et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2016Cited by: 1References: 12

    Coastal environments of the early mid-Holocene provided challenges and opportunities for agriculturalists living in the Santa Elena Peninsula, Ecuador (Santa Elena Province, formerly southwestern Guayas Province). Cores extracted from swamps in three river outflows, namely, the Río Verde/Río Zapotal drainage (Chanduy estuary), the Río Grande (Punta Carnero locality), and the Río Valdivia, provided pollen, phytolith, sedimentary, and elemental seq…

  • Early Prehistoric Maize in Northern Highland Ecuador

    Open AccessJ Stephen Athens, Jerome V Ward et al.ARTICLELatin American Antiquity2016Cited by: 7References: 41

    The discovery of the fully developed Formative sites of Cotocallao (ca. 3750-2350 cal. B.P.) in the Quito Basin and La Chimba (ca. 2650-1700 cal. B.P.) in the northern highlands of Ecuador has raised questions about their cultural antecedents, which have not been resolved despite decades of archaeological work in the region. Paleoenvironmental coring investigations were conducted at Lake San Pablo in northern highland Ecuador to determine the dat…

  • Paleoethnobotany

    Open AccessD M PearsallCHAPTERInternational Encyclopedia of the…2015

  • The Phytoliths in the Flora of Ecuador project

    Open AccessD M PearsallARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2015Cited by: 3References: 6

  • Phytoliths as a tool for investigations of agricultural origins and dispersals around the world

    Open AccessTerry Ball, Karol Chandler-Ezell et al.ARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2015Cited by: 45References: 39

  • Plant use activities during the Upper Paleolithic in East Eurasia

    Open AccessYing Guan, D M Pearsall et al.ARTICLEQuaternary International2014Cited by: 25References: 13

  • Archaic period settlement and subsistence in the Maya lowlands

    Open AccessR M Rosenswig, D M Pearsall et al.ARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2013Cited by: 28References: 30

  • Let's Drink Together

    Open AccessAmanda L Logan, C A Hastorf et al.ARTICLELatin American Antiquity2012Cited by: 44References: 66

    Since the Formative times, maize is and has been a highly valued social commodity in the Andes, particularly in the form of a traditional beer called chicha. While chicha production is well attested in the archaeology and ethnohistory of Andean states, the emergence of maize symbolism in earlier societies has not been systematically addressed. In this study phytolith and starch grain analyses are used to trace production, processing, and consumpt…

  • Climate, agriculture, and cycles of human occupation over the last 4000 yr in southern Zacatecas, Mexico

    Open AccessMichelle Elliott, Christopher T Fisher et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2010

    Scholars attribute the growth and decline of Classic period (AD 200–900) settlements in the semi-arid northern frontier zone of Mesoamerica to rainfall cycles that controlled the extent of arable land. However, there is little empirical evidence to support this claim. We present phytolith, organic carbon, and magnetic susceptibility analyses of a 4000-yr alluvial record of climate and human land use from the Malpaso Valley, the site of one such C…

  • Investigating the Transition to Agriculture

    D M PearsallARTICLECurrent Anthropology2009Cited by: 13References: 16

    Because understanding the transition to food production is fundamentally an exercise in dietary reconstruction, research designs that incorporate multiple lines of evidence provide the most rigorous tests. An approach is advocated that evaluates multiple lines of evidence critically, verifying one indicator by one or more different ones. Theoretical and methodological issues arising from presentations/exchanges during the "State University of New…

  • Directly dated starch residues document early formative maize ( Zea mays L.) in tropical Ecuador

    Open AccessSonia Zarrillo, D M Pearsall et al.ARTICLEProceedings of the National…2008

    The study of maize ( Zea mays L.) domestication has advanced from questions of its origins to the study—and debate—of its dietary role and the timing of its dispersal from Mexico. Because the investigation of maize's spread is hampered by poor preservation of macrobotanical remains in the Neotropics, research has focused on microbotanical remains whose contexts are often dated by association, leading some to question the dates assigned. Furthermo…

  • At the Crossroads

    Open AccessMary Jane Berman, D M PearsallARTICLELatin American Antiquity2008Cited by: 34References: 29

    Starch and phytolith analyses of an assemblage of chert microliths from the Three Dog site, an early Lucayan settlement on San Salvador, Bahamas, yieldedZea mays, Capsicum, and possible manioc indicating that these domesticates were present by at least A.D. 800 or earlier in Cuba or Hispaniola and brought to the central Bahamas during its early peopling. The presence of corn at this site contradicts previously held ideas that it did not appear in…

  • Ancient Starch Research. Robin Torrence , Huw Barton

    D M PearsallARTICLEJournal of Anthropological Research2007

  • Climate change and population history in the pacific lowlands of Southern Mesoamerica

    Open AccessHector Neff, D M Pearsall et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2006

    Core MAN015 from Pacific coastal Guatemala contains sediments accumulated in a mangrove setting over the past 6500 yr. Chemical, pollen, and phytolith data, which indicate conditions of estuarine deposition and terrigenous inputs from adjacent dry land, document Holocene climate variability that parallels the Maya lowlands and other New World tropical locations. Human population history in this region may be driven partly by climate variation: se…

  • Root and Tuber Phytoliths and Starch Grains Document Manioc ( Manihot Esculenta ) , Arrowroot ( Maranta Arundinacea ) , and Llerén ( Calathea sp.) at the Real Alto Site, Ecuador

    Open AccessKarol Chandler-Ezell, D M Pearsall et al.ARTICLEEconomic Botany2006

  • Seeds of Central America and Southern Mexico. The Economic Species

    Open AccessD M PearsallARTICLEEconomic Botany2006

  • Early Maya Adaptive Patterns

    Open AccessHector Neff, D M Pearsall et al.ARTICLELatin American Antiquity2006Cited by: 37References: 46

    We summarize what is known about Archaic period occupation of southeastern Mesoamerica and Central America as background for presenting new paleoenvironmental evidence of pre-Early Formative human impacts on the landscape of Pacific coastal Guatemala. Our evidence comes from sediment cores in three locations, all of which are in the mangrove-estuary zone of the lower coast. Pollen and phytoliths from the cores document increased burning, decrease…

  • The application of ethnobotanical techniques to the problem of subsistence in the Ecuadorian Formative

    D M Pearsall