My research interests have primarily involved the archaeobotany, archaeology, and human ecology of the lowland American tropics together with the biogeographical and climatological history of the tropical biome. A main focus of my career is the origins of agriculture through investigations of phytoliths, starch grains and pollen at archaeological sites in the Neotropics and elsewhere in the world. Another main focus is the impact and modern legacies of prehistoric human influences on Neotropical forests.
Larson, Greger, Piperno, Dolores R., Allaby, Robin G., Purugganan, Michael D., Andersson, Leif, Arroyo-Kalin, Manuel, Barton, Loukas, Vigueira, Cynthia Climer, Denham, Tim, Dobney, Keith, Doust, Andrew N., Gepts, Paul, Gilbert, M. Thomas P., Gremillion, Kristen J., Lucas, Leilani, Lukens, Lewis, Marshall, Fiona B., Olsen, Kenneth M., Pires, J. C., Richerson, Peter J., de Casas, Rafael Rubio, Sanjur, Oris I., Thomas, Mark G., and Fuller, Dorian Q. 2014. "Current perspectives and the future of domestication studies." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111 (17):6139-6146. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.13239641112014
Grayson, D. K., Meltzer, D. J., Buikstra, J. E., Flannery, K. V., Fowler, C. S., Marcus, J., O'Connell, J. F., Piperno, Dolores R., Sabloff, J. A., Smith, Bruce D., Thomas, D. H., Willerslev, E., and Zeder, Melinda A. 2014. "Early Americans: Respecting ancestors." Science 345 (6195):390-390. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.345.6195.390-b2014
Martin, Juan G., Mendizabal, Tomas, Schreg, Rainer, Piperno, Dolores R., and Cooke, Richard G. 2014. "First evidence for pre-Columbian raised fields in Central America." Antiquity 89 (343):
2014
Nadel, Dani, Piperno, Dolores R., Holst, Irene, Snir, Ainit, and Weiss, Ehud. 2012. "New evidence for the processing of wild cereal grains at Ohalo II, a 23 000-year-old campsite on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel." Antiquity 86 (334):990-1003.
2012
Grobman, Alexander, Bonavia, Duccio, Dillehay, Tom D., Piperno, Dolores R., Iriarte, José, and Holst, Irene. 2012. "Preceramic maize from Paredones and Huaca Prieta, Peru." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109 (5):1755-1759. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.11202701092012
Piperno, Dolores R., Messner, T., and Holst, I. 2017. "Starch Grains." in In Where the Land Meets the Sea: Fourteen Millennia of Human Behavior at Huaca Prieta, Peru, edited by Dillehay, T. D., 683-688. University of Texas Press.
2017
Piperno, Dolores R. 2007. "Fitolitos y carbón microscópico del trayecto 155: historia de vegetación y fuego en la cuenca amazónica durante los últimos 75,000 años." in Ecología y evolución en los trópicos, edited by Leigh, Egbert Giles, Jr., Herre, Edward Allen, Jackson, Jeremy B. C., and Santos-Granero, Fernando., 337-348. Editora Nova Art.
2007
Piperno, Dolores R. 2007. "Fitolitos y carbón; evidencia de agricultura de roza y quema prehistórica en el bosque húmedo tropical de Darién en Panamá." in Ecología y evolución en los trópicos, edited by Leigh, Egbert Giles, Jr., Herre, Edward Allen, Jackson, Jeremy B. C., and Santos-Granero, Fernando., 601-607. Editora Nova Art.
2007
Piperno, Dolores R., Ranere, Anthony J., Holst, Irene, and Hansell, Patricia. 2007. "Granos de almidón revelan una agricultura primitiva de raíces en un bosque húmedo tropical de Panamá." in Ecología y evolución en los trópicos, edited by Leigh, Egbert Giles, Jr., Herre, Edward Allen, Jackson, Jeremy B. C., and Santos-Granero, Fernando., 594-600. Editora Nova Art.
2007