Enduring Relationships: People, Plants, and the Contributions of Karen R. Adams

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Enduring Relationships: People, Plants, and the Contributions of Karen R. Adams" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This symposium honors the outstanding research and mentorship contributions of Dr. Karen R. Adams in archaeology, paleoethnobotany, and the plant sciences. Dr. Adam’s broad research contributions include significant work on archaeobotanical sample collection and analysis techniques, interdisciplinary work on Indigenous maize landraces, and influential work on the cultivation, domestication, and movement of plants native to the US Southwest and Northwest Mexico. For nearly five decades, she has been at the forefront of analyzing and interpreting diverse archaeological plant remains, the results of which are reported in nearly 150 peer-reviewed publications and hundreds of technical reports. Beyond this, Dr. Adams has also excelled as a mentor to young scholars, particularly in her role guiding and training three decades of environmental interns in paleoethnobotanical methods and interpretation at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in southwestern Colorado. In this session, colleagues and former students present research and applied work inspired by and celebrating Dr. Adam’s unparalleled career.