EDUCATION
2016-2017 Archéologie des Amériques (UMR 8096), Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne –
Paris, France
Fyssen Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
2008-2016 Washington University in St Louis Arts and Sciences – St. Louis, MO
Ph.D. in Anthropology
Research Focus: Reconstruction of Ancient Human Diets and
Cuisine, Ancient Uses of Plants, Mesoamerican Archaeology, Gardens, Macrobotanical
and Starch-Grain Analysis, Paleoethnobotany
Advisors: Dr. Gayle Fritz and Dr. David Freidel
2005-2008 Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences – New Haven, CT
MA in Archaeological Studies
Research Focus: Early Complex Societies; Political and Ritual Economy;
Ancient Maya Archaeology
Master’s Thesis: El Guayabal: Life at a Late Preclassic Center in the El Paraiso
Valley, Honduras
Advisor: Dr. Marcello Canuto
2001-2004 University of Leicester – Leicester, England
Bachelors of Science Degree in Archaeology
GRANTS and AWARDS
2016-2017 Fyssen Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
2015 Dissertation Fellowship (Washington University in St. Louis)
2012 National Science Foundation Award: Doctoral Dissertation Research
Improvement Grant ($25,197)
2011-12 Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence (Washington University in St. Louis)
2011 Charles R. Jenkins Award for Distinguished Achievement (National Executive Council of
Lambda Alpha (the National Collegiate Honor Society for Anthropology)
2010-2011 Summer research funding awarded by Washington University in St. Louis
2008-2014 Full scholarship and tuition for PhD program awarded by Washington University
in St. Louis
2006-2007 Albers Fund Traveling Grant awarded by the Peabody Museum (Yale University, Honduras
Project)
2003 Leonardo da Vinci Award funded by European Union (Iceland Project)
PRESENTATIONS
2017 Society for Economic Botany — June 4-9, Bragança, Portugal.
Wood for the Gods: An Anthracological Study of an Ancient Maya Fire Shrine at El Peru-Waka’, Guatemala.
2017 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology — Mar 29- Apr 2, Vancouver, Canada.
Feeding the Mountain: Plant Remains from Ritual Contexts On and Around Structure M13-1 at El Perú-
Waka’ (co-authored with Olivia Navarro-Farr, Griselda Perez, Damaris Menendez, and Juan Carlos Perez)
2016 17th International Work Group for Paleoethnobotany — July 4-9, Paris, France.
Spicy, Sweet, Weedy, and Wild: Micro- and Macrobotanical Remains from Feasting Deposits at the Late
Classic Maya site of La Corona, Guatemala.
2015 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology — April 15-19, San Francisco, California.
Feeding the Gods, Calling the Rains: Archaeobotanical Remains from a Monumental Fire Shrine at El Peru-
Waka’, Guatemala (co-authored with Olivia Navarro-Farr, Griselda Perez, and Damaris Menendez).
2014 Feeding the Fire, Calling the Rains: Plant Remains from a Fire Shrine at El Peru-Waka, Guatemala.
Lecture presented for the Mound City Archaeological Society, History Museum, St. Louis, MO.
2014 Joint Meeting of Society of Ethnobiology and Society for Economic Botany--- Cherokee, North Carolina
Shedding light on the Nightshades (Solanaceae) used by the Ancient Maya: New Archaeobotanical
Evidence from Sites in Northwestern Petén, Guatemala.
2014 Friday Archaeology Talk-- Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis
Feeding the Fire, Calling the Rains: Plant Remains from a Fire Shrine at El Peru-Waka, Guatemala.
2013 Ancient Maya Cuisine and Feeding the Divinities. Lecture presented for the Academy of Science
of St. Louis, Missouri.
2013 16th International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany-- June 17-22, Thessaloniki, Greece.
More than Meets the Eye: Integrating Macrobotanical Plant Remains and Starch-grain
Analysis to Reconstruct the Ancient Classic Maya Diet of Petén, Guatemala.
2013 78th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology-- April 3-7, Honolulu, HI.
Integrating Macro- and Microbotanical Remains to Reconstruct Ancient Maya Plant Use in
Northwestern Petén, Guatemala.
2012 XXVI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala (26th Annual
Archaeological Symposium), July 16-20, Guatemala City, Guatemala Plantas E Animales
en La Corona, Joint Paper with Diana N. Fridberg.
2012 77th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology – April 18-22, Memphis, TN.
Strolling through Madame Mandeville’s Garden: The Real and Imagined Landscape of 18th
Century New Orleans.
2012 Poster Session at the 17th Annual Graduate Research Symposium, Washington University in
St. Louis. Starch-Grain Analysis and Paleoethnobotany: A Microscopic Approach to
Reconstructing Ancient Diets.
2010 Friday Archaeology Talk- Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis
Strolling through Madame Mandeville’s Garden: The Real and Imagined Landscape of 18th
Century New Orleans.
2009 Friday Archaeology Talk-- Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis
Flotation of Samples from El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala.
2007 72nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology -- April 25-29, Austin, TX.
El Guayabal and Las Orquideas: The El Paraiso Valley as a Regional Center in the
Preclassic Period.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPERIENCE
2016 Flotation and Analysis of Soil Samples from Teotihuacan, Mexico.
2012 Archaeological investigations and Flotation of Soil Samples from El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala
2010-2012 Archaeological investigations and Flotation of Soil Samples from La Corona, Guatemala
2009-2010 Analysis of Soils from Rising Sun Hotel Site, New Orleans
2009 Flotation of Soil Samples from El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala
2006-2007 Investigator at El Guayabal Site, and Staff/Student Coordinator for the Kenyon-Honduras Study
Abroad Project--El Paraiso, Honduras
2005 Investigator -- Lazaret Cave, Nice, France
2003 Investigator -- Skriðuklaustur, Iceland (medieval Augustinian monastery)
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Society for American Archaeology (SAA)
Société des Américanistes
Society of Ethnobiology
Economic Botany
Lambda Alpha
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Instructor (Washington University in St. Louis)
Teaching Assistant (Washington University in St. Louis) 2009-2016
Teaching Assistant (Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) 2008 (Spring)
2016-2017 Archéologie des Amériques (UMR 8096), Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne –
Paris, France
Fyssen Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
2008-2016 Washington University in St Louis Arts and Sciences – St. Louis, MO
Ph.D. in Anthropology
Research Focus: Reconstruction of Ancient Human Diets and
Cuisine, Ancient Uses of Plants, Mesoamerican Archaeology, Gardens, Macrobotanical
and Starch-Grain Analysis, Paleoethnobotany
Advisors: Dr. Gayle Fritz and Dr. David Freidel
2005-2008 Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences – New Haven, CT
MA in Archaeological Studies
Research Focus: Early Complex Societies; Political and Ritual Economy;
Ancient Maya Archaeology
Master’s Thesis: El Guayabal: Life at a Late Preclassic Center in the El Paraiso
Valley, Honduras
Advisor: Dr. Marcello Canuto
2001-2004 University of Leicester – Leicester, England
Bachelors of Science Degree in Archaeology
GRANTS and AWARDS
2016-2017 Fyssen Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
2015 Dissertation Fellowship (Washington University in St. Louis)
2012 National Science Foundation Award: Doctoral Dissertation Research
Improvement Grant ($25,197)
2011-12 Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence (Washington University in St. Louis)
2011 Charles R. Jenkins Award for Distinguished Achievement (National Executive Council of
Lambda Alpha (the National Collegiate Honor Society for Anthropology)
2010-2011 Summer research funding awarded by Washington University in St. Louis
2008-2014 Full scholarship and tuition for PhD program awarded by Washington University
in St. Louis
2006-2007 Albers Fund Traveling Grant awarded by the Peabody Museum (Yale University, Honduras
Project)
2003 Leonardo da Vinci Award funded by European Union (Iceland Project)
PRESENTATIONS
2017 Society for Economic Botany — June 4-9, Bragança, Portugal.
Wood for the Gods: An Anthracological Study of an Ancient Maya Fire Shrine at El Peru-Waka’, Guatemala.
2017 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology — Mar 29- Apr 2, Vancouver, Canada.
Feeding the Mountain: Plant Remains from Ritual Contexts On and Around Structure M13-1 at El Perú-
Waka’ (co-authored with Olivia Navarro-Farr, Griselda Perez, Damaris Menendez, and Juan Carlos Perez)
2016 17th International Work Group for Paleoethnobotany — July 4-9, Paris, France.
Spicy, Sweet, Weedy, and Wild: Micro- and Macrobotanical Remains from Feasting Deposits at the Late
Classic Maya site of La Corona, Guatemala.
2015 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology — April 15-19, San Francisco, California.
Feeding the Gods, Calling the Rains: Archaeobotanical Remains from a Monumental Fire Shrine at El Peru-
Waka’, Guatemala (co-authored with Olivia Navarro-Farr, Griselda Perez, and Damaris Menendez).
2014 Feeding the Fire, Calling the Rains: Plant Remains from a Fire Shrine at El Peru-Waka, Guatemala.
Lecture presented for the Mound City Archaeological Society, History Museum, St. Louis, MO.
2014 Joint Meeting of Society of Ethnobiology and Society for Economic Botany--- Cherokee, North Carolina
Shedding light on the Nightshades (Solanaceae) used by the Ancient Maya: New Archaeobotanical
Evidence from Sites in Northwestern Petén, Guatemala.
2014 Friday Archaeology Talk-- Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis
Feeding the Fire, Calling the Rains: Plant Remains from a Fire Shrine at El Peru-Waka, Guatemala.
2013 Ancient Maya Cuisine and Feeding the Divinities. Lecture presented for the Academy of Science
of St. Louis, Missouri.
2013 16th International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany-- June 17-22, Thessaloniki, Greece.
More than Meets the Eye: Integrating Macrobotanical Plant Remains and Starch-grain
Analysis to Reconstruct the Ancient Classic Maya Diet of Petén, Guatemala.
2013 78th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology-- April 3-7, Honolulu, HI.
Integrating Macro- and Microbotanical Remains to Reconstruct Ancient Maya Plant Use in
Northwestern Petén, Guatemala.
2012 XXVI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala (26th Annual
Archaeological Symposium), July 16-20, Guatemala City, Guatemala Plantas E Animales
en La Corona, Joint Paper with Diana N. Fridberg.
2012 77th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology – April 18-22, Memphis, TN.
Strolling through Madame Mandeville’s Garden: The Real and Imagined Landscape of 18th
Century New Orleans.
2012 Poster Session at the 17th Annual Graduate Research Symposium, Washington University in
St. Louis. Starch-Grain Analysis and Paleoethnobotany: A Microscopic Approach to
Reconstructing Ancient Diets.
2010 Friday Archaeology Talk- Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis
Strolling through Madame Mandeville’s Garden: The Real and Imagined Landscape of 18th
Century New Orleans.
2009 Friday Archaeology Talk-- Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis
Flotation of Samples from El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala.
2007 72nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology -- April 25-29, Austin, TX.
El Guayabal and Las Orquideas: The El Paraiso Valley as a Regional Center in the
Preclassic Period.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPERIENCE
2016 Flotation and Analysis of Soil Samples from Teotihuacan, Mexico.
2012 Archaeological investigations and Flotation of Soil Samples from El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala
2010-2012 Archaeological investigations and Flotation of Soil Samples from La Corona, Guatemala
2009-2010 Analysis of Soils from Rising Sun Hotel Site, New Orleans
2009 Flotation of Soil Samples from El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala
2006-2007 Investigator at El Guayabal Site, and Staff/Student Coordinator for the Kenyon-Honduras Study
Abroad Project--El Paraiso, Honduras
2005 Investigator -- Lazaret Cave, Nice, France
2003 Investigator -- Skriðuklaustur, Iceland (medieval Augustinian monastery)
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Society for American Archaeology (SAA)
Société des Américanistes
Society of Ethnobiology
Economic Botany
Lambda Alpha
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Instructor (Washington University in St. Louis)
- Culture and Environment (Spring 2016)
- Introduction to Archaeology (Summer 2013)
Teaching Assistant (Washington University in St. Louis) 2009-2016
- Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Prof. Geoff Childs)
- Culture and Environment (Prof. Glenn Stone)
- Brave New Crops (Prof. Glenn Stone)
- Archaeological Fantasies and Hoaxes (Profs. Gayle Fritz and David Freidel)
- Introduction to Archaeology (Professor Darla Dale)
- People and Plants: Paleoethnobotany and Ethnobotany (Professor Gayle Fritz)
- Introduction to Environmental Studies (Dr. Joshua Lockyer)
- Culture and Environment (Dr. Matthew Fry)
- World Archaeology (Dr. John Kelly)
Teaching Assistant (Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) 2008 (Spring)
- Course: Hoaxes and Fantasies in Archaeology (Professor William Honeychurch)
