UC Berkeley Anthropology Professor Christine Hastorf was awarded the Pomerance Award for Scientific Contributions to Archaeology.
Each year, the Archaeological Institute of America—the oldest and largest professional archeology association in North America—chooses one scholar to honor with the prestigious Pomerance Award for Scientific Contributions to Archaeology.
Over the past 45 years, Hastorf has engaged in archaeobotanical research. Her work covers a range of topics, such as agricultural production, cooking practices, plant use and its association with social relations, gender relations and political change. While Hastorf has mostly done research in South America’s Andes mountain range, she has also worked in Mexico, Italy and Turkey.
UC Berkeley Social Sciences spoke with Professor Hastorf about her research and achievements. This interview has been edited for clarity.
Please tell us more about your background and what sparked your interest in archaeology.
Christine Hastorf: I was interested in the beauty of plants when I was young, then at college, I created a major that was dominated by plant biology and less so in anthropology. Building on those classes, I was able to take a plant ecology course hiking in the Rocky Mountains for six weeks my senior year. That solidified my engagement with plants and humans, as on that trip, I learned to live off the land, foraging for food for our group. This interest then was expanded more concertedly in graduate school at UCLA, where I was able to merge my interest studying human – plant relationships over the long durée in several parts of the world.
I have tended to focus on dry environments, xerophytic ecologies and how people thrived in these settings. I was fortunate to complete research in the Peruvian highlands for my dissertation, moving on to Bolivia in two long-term projects. Through this and my position, I have been able to share my love of this topic and the importance of plants in human life with many students here at UC Berkeley.
People are not always cognizant of the fact that, until the industrial revolution several hundred years ago, most daily activities of humans gravitated around plants, and therefore they are truly the entry into our successful existence. This has been called “plant blindness.” I have tried to bring this important and dynamic relationship to the fore in people's thinking and how it is not just in the past but the present and future that people depend on plants and our relationships with them.
Tell us more about the award and the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA).
Christine Hastorf: The Pomerance Award for work in archaeological science is a very prestigious award from the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), the oldest and largest professional association in the United States. The society chooses one scholar a year to honor in this way. The archaeologists who have been honored with this award range from geoarchaeologists to faunal scholars to archaeobotanists, of which I am one of several who have received this honor. Archaeobotany requires lots of time in laboratories surrounded by plants both past and present. We spend our time identifying fragments of plants. I have had the good fortune to have a space here on campus in which to grow a large, unique type collection that many have been able to use over my time here. It will be sad to disassemble this useful database, others will not be able to use it as they do now.
What was your reaction to winning the award?
Christine Hastorf: I was completely surprised with this news, as it seemed out of my realm, being a western hemisphere scholar, whereas most AIA activities focus on the eastern hemisphere (Eurasia). But once I read the website as the list of awardees, I did see that some of these honorees also worked in this hemisphere. I think the point is that we all have had a broader influence beyond our specific research area. I guess I was not aware of my influence and so I am especially proud of this award; to learn of my impact on archaeological scholarship more broadly.
Why do you think you were chosen?
Christine Hastorf: This is really an impossible question to answer. I guess it could be because I am retiring this year and at the end of my more active phase of my career, people are noting this and what I have completed. I have had a long and successful career completing archaeobotanical research, teaching and trying to improve on the archaeobotanical methods for almost 45 years. I have worked hard and published on a range of aspects in my paleoethnobotanical discipline, while building up a rich active laboratory for students and visitors. I hope my work has helped and continues to help archaeology students everywhere. It is an honor to be recognized for this hard work.
What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?
Christine Hastorf: Having the opportunity to complete research and training in our discipline has allowed me to learn so much about how people have lived in many places in the world. Spending time with these generations of people has been an honor. I have enjoyed sharing my archaeobotanical interests with students and colleagues, both at the universities I have taught at, but also at meetings and in the field.
One of the aspects of my career that I have been proud of was creating, directing and running successful field and laboratory projects for many years. I hope my writing on food has helped others think about the more personal side of daily life in the past and of the many people who have lived before us so successfully. We live because of their accomplishments.
What are your future plans?
Christine Hastorf: I am nearing retirement, but have much research to complete on early settled life in the Andean highlands and plant – human engagement, with a special focus on parenchymatous identification in archaeological samples. I have several books and a range of publications to finish. I have large type collections that I must organize for deposition at the Smithsonian Institution. I look forward to seeing my former students thrive in their own research.
What would you tell aspiring archaeologists?
Christine Hastorf: I urge students to follow their passions and curiosities. Read broadly and deeply, allow yourselves to think about different theories and methods as you envision the past. Seek the small as well as the large. Work hard. Find the entry into the past that you love most to become the best you can be in that area. Have patience, archaeology is a long game, as deep knowledge comes from steady learning over time. And finally, share your wisdom about the past ways of living, as many of these strategies have been successful and may be still.
