Gayle J. Fritz is an American paleoethnobotanist and a world expert on ancient crops. She is Professor emerita at the Anthropology Department of Washington University in St. Louis and head of the Paleoethnobotany Lab. Her work focuses on crops other than maize, such as chenopodium and amaranth, and emphasizes the importance of direct radiocarbon dating when establishing the models of early agriculture. She also proposes a diversity of pathways from hunting-gathering to agriculture, highly dependent on regional variations and the intricacies of local cultures, and explores the role of women in early societies, often challenging a big chief model of hierarchical dominance. Her research interests include grain amaranth, chenopod, maygrass, tobacco, and hickory nuts.