Dolores Piperno facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dolores Piperno
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|---|---|
| Born | 1949 |
| Alma mater | Rutgers University (BS) Temple University (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Archaeobotany |
| Institutions | Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute National Museum of Natural History |
| Doctoral advisor | Anthony Ranere |
Dolores Rita Piperno (born 1949) is an American archaeologist who studies ancient plants. She is a top scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. She helps us learn about what people ate long ago and how plants like corn became important foods.
Early Life and Education
Dolores Piperno grew up in Philadelphia and later moved to Pennsauken, New Jersey. She first studied Medical Technology at Rutgers University, finishing in 1971. After college, she worked as a medical technician, helping with research at a hospital.
She says this training helped her when she decided to switch to archaeology. She then earned two more degrees in Anthropology from Temple University: a master's degree in 1979 and a Ph.D. in 1983.
Discovering Ancient Plants
Dr. Piperno has done a lot of important research in the Amazon rainforest and Central America. She has also worked in Israel. Her main interest is studying tiny plant remains found at old archaeological sites. These tiny bits include phytoliths (plant stones), starch grains, and pollen.
She uses these clues to figure out when and where important crops like corn, peanuts, and squash (called cucurbits) were first grown by people. She is famous for her work with Klaus Winter on how corn first started. They even built a special greenhouse to copy ancient growing conditions!
Dr. Piperno and her team also found proof of the earliest popcorn. She helped create many of the ways scientists study phytoliths today. She was also one of the first to study starch grains from ancient sites. She has collected samples from over 400 different plant types to help her research. She even studied plant bits found in Neanderthal teeth to learn about their diets.
Awards and Honors
Dolores Piperno has received many awards for her amazing work.
- In 2005, she was chosen to be part of the National Academy of Sciences. This is a very high honor for scientists in the United States.
- The country of Panama gave her the Order of Vasco Núñez de Balboa award in 2006.
- In 2009, she received the Pomerance Award for Scientific Contributions to Archaeology. This award came from the Archaeological Institute of America.
- In 2011, she earned the National Museum of Natural History Science Achievement Award.
About Her Life
Dolores Piperno has a daughter named Jenny. When she's not busy with archaeology, she enjoys playing golf, reading history books, and working in her garden.
