Dr. Elizabeth T. Horton is a public archaeologist and paleoethnobotanist with a special focus on cultural heritage issues related to deep-time people/plant relationships and communities’ ecological knowledge and traditions. Elizabeth supports the Cultural Heritage Partners Preservation Team in reviewing reports and documentation, building background research for projects, and advising on consultations related to the NHPA, NEPA, and other environmental regulations.

About Elizabeth

Elizabeth has over 2 decades of experience in archaeological fieldwork and research. She has worked on projects in Louisiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, North Carolina, and the Dhofar province of Oman, as well as macrobotanical studies for sites from Arkansas, North Carolina, Indiana, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Her research specialization is in ancient Indigenous plant use, agroecology and plant management, and fiber use for fabric production. Elizabeth has also worked on issues of professional ethics within the field.

Elizabeth graduated from Webster University with a BA in Anthropology and Religious Studies. She earned her MA in 2003 and PhD in 2010 from Washington University in St. Louis in Anthropology (Archaeology). Elizabeth worked for the Arkansas Archeological Survey for a decade, carrying out research, developing public education and outreach programs, and assisting in the preservation and protection of the state’s cultural resources. In collaboration with Arkansas State Parks, she created the NEH and AHC grant funded “Plum Bayou Garden” – a living exhibit on the history of Indigenous plant domestication in Eastern North America and the science of paleoethnobotany at Toltec Mounds Archaeological State Park.

Elizabeth relocated to Virginia in 2020. She continues her paleoethnobotanical research, providing macrobotanical analysis for colleagues across the Southeastern United States at private CRM firms, state agencies and universities. Elizabeth is an avid gardener – cultivating the wild progenitors of now extinct Indigenous crops and fiber plants for both research and love of the plants.