Experience

I am an environmental archaeologist who specializes in recreating ancient human-ecological systems from animal, plant, and geological remains recovered in association with human-created archaeological sites. My research with reference to climate change: I work in Mesoamerica using environmental data from ancient human settlements to model drought and other local effects linked to regional climate change during the period of prehispanic and early Colonial human occupation. I correlate environmental change and human activities to periods of climate change in order to understand the local impact of said changes on resources and also on the decisions that are made by different members of society when they are faced with change. This provides both baseline ecological data and cultural information on human responses to climate change in complex, hierarchical, and economically integrated social systems. I am Associate Curator of Environmental Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, and Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology, both at the University of Florida. My PhD (1997) is from Cornell University. I'm on ResearchGate and Academia.edu if you are interested in my publications, or I'm happy to send them to anyone interested.