Heather Thakar
  • Assistant Professor
  • Director, Archaeobotany & Palynology Laboratories
  • Director, Radiocarbon & Isotope Preparation Laboratory
  • Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
  • Email: thakar@tamu.edu
  • Office: Anthropology 309E
  • Document: CV
Research Areas
  • Archaeology

Biography

Courses Taught:

ANTH 204 – The Prehistoric World
ANTH 412 – Archaeological Theory
ANTH 421 – Advanced Museum Studies

ANTH 448 – Quantitative Methods in Anthropology
ANTH 484 – Anthropology Internship
ANTH 637 – Paleoethnobotany

 

Current Graduate Students:

Kevin Wann, Chloe Fackler, Bradie Dean

Note: Dr. Thakar is currently accepting graduate students.

Research Interests

  • Archaeological Theory
  • Evolutionary Ecology
  • New World Foraging and Proto-agricultural Societies (California, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua)
  • Isotope Geochemistry
  • Radiocarbon Dating
  • ZooMS Collagen Peptide Fingerprinting
  • Archaeobotany and Palynology
  • Archaeological Ethics
  • Rematriation/Repatriation Research

Radiocarbon and Isotope Preparation Laboratory

 

Current Research Projects

  • Human Niche Construction during the Late Pleistocene and Middle Holocene in Pacific Central America (Nicaragua and Coasta Rica), Principal Investigator (2020 – present), Funding: NSF Archaeology Program Collaborative Research Grant BCS-2023089.

  • Landscape and Foodways Reconstruction through Palynological, Isotopic, Macrobotanical, and Faunal Analysis with Hector Neff (CSULB)

  • Domestication, Food Production & Wild Plant Use during the Holocene 11,000 -2,500 cal BP, Principal Investigator (2014 – present), Funding: NSF Archaeology Program Collaborative Research Grant BCS-1757374.

  • Foodways Reconstruction through Macrobotanical and Coprolite Analysis of the El Gigante Rockshelter Collection from Honduras with Amber VanDerwarker (UCSB), Douglas Kennett (PSU) and Collaborator: Kenneth Hirth (PSU)

  • Early Holocene Human Ecology and Culture in the Southern Lowlands of Belize, 15,000-3,500 cal BP, Research Collaborator (2017 – present)

  • Macrobotanical and Palynological Analysis of Saki Tzul and Mayahak Cab Pek Rockshelters with Principal Investigator Keith Prufer (UNM)

  • High-Precision Radiocarbon Dating & Chronological Assessment of Arlington Springs Man, Research Collaborator (2016 – present)

  • Bayesian Analysis and Integration of Chronological and Stratigraphic Data for Arlington Springs Man 13,500 cal BP with Principal Investigators: John Johnson (Santa Barbara Natural History Museum) and Tom W. Stafford (Stafford Laboratories)

  • Watch Dr. Thakar’s HOT (Human Origins Today) TOPICS Lecture for the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History: From Ancient Teosinte to Modern Corn: The Domestication of Plants and People

Educational Background

  • PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2014

Selected Publications

    • Cover of Human Behvioral Ecology and Coastal Environments2023     Thakar, Heather B. and Carola Flores Fernandez (eds.) “Human Behavioral Ecology and Coastal Environments”. University Press of Florida: Society and Ecology in Island and Coastal Archaeology Series. 296 pages. ISBN 13:9780813069586.

    • 2024     Domic, Alejandra I., Amber VanDerwarker, Heather B. Thakar, Kenneth Hirth, José M. Capriles, Timothy E. Scheffler, and Douglas J. Kennett, “Archaeobotanical Evidence Supports Indigenous Cucurbit Domestication in the Mesoamerican Neotropics”. Nature Scientific Reports 14(1):10885. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-60723-1  

    • 2024     Alsgaard, Asia and Heather B. Thakar, “Fishing further inland? The role of the transition to agriculture on fishing practices in the Soconusco Region, Mexico”. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 2014:1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2024.2341387

    • 2024     Johnson, Taryn, Heather B. Thakar, Anna Linderholm, and Joe Watkins,” Ethical Best Practices: Ancient DNA from Composite Samples.” Advances in Archaeological Practice (2024)1-12. https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2023.32  

    • 2023     Kennett, Douglas J., Harper, Thomas K., VanDerwarker, Amber, Thakar, Heather B., Domic, Alejandra, Blake, Michael, Benz, Bruce, George, Richard J., Scheffler, Timothy E., Culleton, Brendan., Kistler, Logan, Hirth, Kenneth, "Trans–Holocene Bayesian chronology for tree and field crop use from El Gigante rockshelter, Honduras." Plos one 18:6: e0287195. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287195.

    • 2020     Kistler, Logan, Heather B. Thakar, Amber M. VanDerwarker, Alejandra Domic, Anders Bergstrom, Richard J. George, Thomas K. Harper, Robin G. Allaby, Kenneth Hirth, and Douglas J. Kennett “Archaeological Central American Maize Genomes Suggest Ancient Gene Flow from South America.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2015560117.

    • 2019     Stephens, Lucas, Dorian Fuller, Nicole Boivin, Torben Rick, Nicolas Gauthier, Andrea Kay, Ben Marwick, Chelsey Geralda Armstrong, C. Michael Barton, Tim Denham, Kristina Douglass, Jonathan Driver, Lisa Janz, Patrick Roberts, J. Daniel Rogers, Heather B. Thakar,lllErle Ellis “Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use.” Science 365(6456):897-902. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax1192

    • 2017     Kennett, D.J., H.B. Thakar, A.M. VanDerwarker, D.L. Webster, B.J., Culleton, T.K. Harper, L. Kistler, T.E. Scheffler, Hirth, K. High-precision chronology for Central American maize diversification from El Gigante rockshelter, Honduras. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1705052114. 

    • 2017     Thakar, Heather B., Michael A. Glassow, and Carol A. Blanchette, “The Forest and the Trees: Small-Scale Ecological Variability and Archaeological Interpretations of Temporal Changes in California Mussel Shell Size.” Quaternary International, 427 (A):246-249 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.08.031.

    • 2017     Thakar, Heather B., Michael A. Glassow, and Carol A. Blanchette, “Reconsidering Evidence of Human Impacts: Implications of Within-Site Variation of Growth Rates in Mytilus californianus along Tidal Gradients.” Quaternary International, 427 (A):151-159 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.018.