One of the world’s leading experts on cave archaeology; work has focused on artifacts left by prehistoric people in world’s longest cave, Mammoth Cave System in Kentucky; pioneer in application of ethnographic studies of contemporary societies to understanding archaeological remains left by prehistoric peoples.

Professor Watson’s research interests include agricultural origins in western Asia and eastern North America, archaeological fieldwork in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and China; in Arizona, New Mexico, Kentucky and Tennessee on mounds, shell mounds and caves. She has contributed centrally to techniques for recovering carbonized plant remains from archaeological deposits and to understanding the independent origin of pre-maize agriculture in pre-Columbian eastern North America. She has authored or co-authored seven books, edited or co-edited three books and authored or co-authored 45 journal articles and book chapters. She has been awarded the Fryxell Medal for Interdisciplinary Research by the Society for American Archaeology and the Gold Medal for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement by the Archaeological Institute of America. She is an Honorary Life Member of the National of Speleological Society and a Fellow of the Cave Research Foundation, She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.