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The History of Environmental Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History

The Environmental Archaeology program was initiated in 1961 by Elizabeth S. Wing as an NSF-funded research project in zooarchaeology within the FLMNH Department of Natural Sciences. The project, which focused on the identification of vertebrate animal remains from archaeological sites, continued with outside support until 1969 when a state-funded line for an assistant curator and a technician was established. In 1990, the program was transferred to the FLMNH Department of Anthropology, and in 1997 the Environmental Archaeology Program joined the Museum's newly created Department of Natural History. This new department combines anthropology and the natural sciences and emphasizes the important link between the natural and cultural sciences. Wing refined and encouraged the environmental archaeology program until her retirement in 2001 when Kitty F. Emery took over as Curator of the EA Program. Wing continues her research as Curator Emeritus.

Emery's research interests will expand both the geographic range of the current collections and the EA Program's holistic approach to the reconstruction of ancient human environments. The history of this program has been one of steady expansion aimed to encompass a broader capability and perspective rather than strictly the analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites. At its inception, vertebrate remains were the focus of analysis. That focus expanded to include invertebrate-especially molluscan-remains. Irv Quitmyer has been instrumental in developing techniques that integrate the invertebrate component of shell middens with the vertebrate component in the broader zooarchaeological analyses. The important botanical component was added on an interim basis with the work and guidance of Lee Newsom, now of Pennsylvania State University. Donna Ruhl is carrying this work forward by organizing the EA Program's comparative seed collection and the waterlogged and terrestrial archaeobotanical remains for curation and computerization. In 1993, the collections manager, Sylvia Scudder, received her MS degree in Soil Science and has initiated analyses of anthropogenic soils (archaeopedology). These studies aid in locating and interpreting intra-site cultural features, delineating site boundaries and settlement patterns, and reconstructing past landscapes.

Emery's focus on integrated research on animal, plant, and geologic remains in Central America ties these elements together to create a systems approach to the modeling of ancient environments. These additions have elevated what was a program in zooarchaeology to one that we now call the Environmental Archaeology Program by virtue of its capability in many facets of environmental studies based on archaeological remains. The three components that are the focus of the Environmental Archaeology Program-animal remains, plant remains, and soils-provide evidence for past human uses of natural resources and the natural and human-caused landscape changes to which humans adapted. This information allows us to better understand past ways of life.