Science Cafe Sept 12 – The humble spud

Potatoes are often invisible one one’s plate. Not considered an exotic, it has been a food you can rely on to soothe your soul and stomach. Many have claimed its origin, due to its capacity to keep people alive in so many diverse environments. But its origin history begins 10,000 years ago in highland South America.  While introducing the science of the potato and its complexities of diversification, we will learn how it is farmed in its home and how people are helping it adapt to the changing climates of the world.  

Christine A. Hastorf received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, Director of the Archaeological Research Facility, and the McCown Archaeobotany Laboratory as well as Curator of South American Archaeology at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum. Since 1992, she has directed the Taraco Archaeological Project on the shores of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. Hastorf has conducted extensive, groundbreaking work involving palaeoethnobotany, plant domestication, ritual, agricultural production, social relations, and the social archaeology of food. She is the recipient of the prestigious 2012 Fryxell Award from the Society for American Archaeology for research with plants in archaeology.