Dr. Francisco J. Aceituno is a professor at the University of Antioquia (Colombia). He is an archaeologist and archaeobotanist whose major research interests are the early peopling of the Americas, the process of plant domestication and the origins of food production in the Neotropics. He has a specialisation in starch grain analysis and expertise in statistics.

Francisco has published his findings on these topics in two books, thirteen book chapters and fifteen internationally peer-reviewed journals, including Quaternary International, Quaternary Science Review, World Archaeology, Journal of Archaeological Science, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology and Latin American Antiquity. He has extensive field experience and has collaborated in projects in Spain, Argentina and Panama.

He has been awarded research grants by Colombian agencies, such as the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History. Between 2011 and 2013 Francisco was co-PI in the NSF funded project The Role of the Middle Cauca River Valley, Colombia, in the early domestication and dispersal of New World crops (PI A. Ranere).