My primary research interests are in paleoethnobotany and ethnomedical botany. I have conducted field research in many areas of North America, studying indigenous groups of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, as well as in the southwestern and southeastern US. To develop a greater understanding of how early cultures manipulated their environment through their agricultural and other land-use practices, I have examined the way in which indigenous people, including the Jicaque, Paya and the Kekchi-Maya, use plants. Much of my work has focused on the archaeobotany of the ancient Maya and Olmec, studying the differences in dietary habits among groups of varying economic status. Currently, I am investigating the origins of domesticated sunflower and current ethnographic uses of sunflower in Mexico. I welcome students interested in pursuing compatible research projects.

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) as a Mesoamerican domesticate sponsored by the National Science Foundation

Lentz, D.L. and R. Dickau. 2005. Seeds of Central America and Northern Mexico. New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY. Pp. 310.
Lentz, D.L., J. Yaeger, C. Robin and W. Ashmore. 2005. Pine, prestige and politics of the Late Classic Maya at Xunantunich, Belize. Antiquity 79: 573-585.
Morehart, C.T., D.L. Lentz and K.M. Prufer. 2005. Wood of the Gods: The ritual use of pine (Pinus spp.) by the ancient Lowland Maya. Latin American Antiquity 16: 255-274.
Harter, A.V., K.A. Gardner, D. Falush, D.L. Lentz, R.A. Bye and L. Rieseberg. 2004. Origin of extant domesticated sunflowers in eastern North America. Nature 430: 201-205.
Lentz, D.L., M.E.D. Pohl, K.O. Pope, and A. R. Wyatt. 2001. Prehistoric sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) domestication in Mexico. Economic Botany 55(3): 370-377.

Pope, K.O., M.E.D. Pohl, J. Jones, D.L. Lentz, C. von Nagy, and I. Quitmyer. 2001. Early agriculture in the lowlands of Mesoamerica. Science 292: 1370-1373.