Whether you are a member of the public who is curious about ancient Africa, a student considering specializing
in African archaeology, or a fellow scholar looking for more details about my research, I hope you find the
following pages helpful, and invite you to contact me with comments or questions at Elisabeth.Hildebrand@stonybrook.edu.
As an anthropological archaeologist, I study the beginnings of agriculture and herding in Africa. I gather
ethnobotanical, archaeological, and archaeobotanical data to address questions of how and why hunter-gatherers
began farming and keeping animals, and how food production eventually changed their social lives. I teach
Anthropology courses at Stony Brook University, and conduct field projects in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya.
Ethnobotany: Participant observation in Sheko,
southwest Ethiopia.
Archaeology: Pillar sites contemporaneous with
early herding near Lake Turkana northwest Kenya.
Archaeobotany: Flotation of material from early
agricultural sites on Sai Island, north Sudan.
Welcome to Elisabeth Hildebrand’s web site