While a student at Barnard, she was influenced by James Ford, Gordon Ekholm, and Junius Bird; she worked summers at the American Museum of Natural History Anthropology Department.
An interest in pre-Columbian transoceanic contacts led to her meeting Richard Nielsen, who asked her to advise on archaeological aspects while testing the Kensington Runestone of Minnesota.
[citation needed] Though a majority of relevant scholars have concluded the Runestone is a 19th Century hoax,[2] nevertheless there remains a community convinced of the stone's authenticity.
[3] Kehoe is satisfied the item represents actual runic writing by members of a Scandinavian voyage to North America in the 14th century.
Her memoir of her career as a woman in American archaeology, Girl Archaeologist: Sisterhood in a Sexist Profession, was published in 2022 by University of Nebraska Press.