Native peoples living in Kentucky turned to a farming way of life by around A.D. 1000. They drew on the plant food growing techniques of their ancestors, who domesticated and grew several native Kentucky plants beginning around 1000 B.C. This presentation will describe this long tradition of Native farming practices, drawing on archaeological research conducted in Kentucky, informed by ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources.
Presenter bio:
Dr. Gwynn Henderson is the Education Director at the Kentucky Archaeological Survey, a program of Western Kentucky University’s Department of Society, Culture, Crime & Justice Studies. She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Kentucky and has carried out field research in Kentucky, the Ohio Valley, Tennessee, and Mexico. Her archaeological research and publications focus on the ancient Native farming cultures of the middle Ohio Valley.
As a public archaeologist, Dr. Henderson works with others to develop lessons, booklets, video programs, and workshops that make information about Kentucky’s rich archaeological heritage accessible to a wide audience. A writer of children’s nonfiction, her articles have been published in several children’s magazines, and her book for adult literacy students, Kentuckians Before Boone, has been used in Kentucky classrooms.
