Affiliated Researchers
John Krigbaum, Ph.D., Anthropology, New York University
John is Associate Professor, Undergraduate Coordinator and Director of the Bone Chemistry Laboratory in the Anthropology Department at the University of Florida. He is an international researcher using new methods in bone chemistry and stable isotope analysis to address past ecological and cultural systems in both the Old and New Worlds. He coordinates paleoanthropological and bioarchaeological research for the Late Pleistocene-Holocene site Niah Cave (Sarawak, Malaysia) and works with archaeologists and paleontologists at the Florida Museum. Currently he and Florida Museum curator, Neill Wallis, are working on a multi-year NSF funded award – Understanding the Development of Hierarchical Social Organization.
Kenneth E. Sassaman, Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Ken is the Hyatt and Cici Brown Professor of Florida Archaeology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida. He is the director of the Laboratory of Southeastern Archaeology (LSA) where he and his students undertake research and archaeological field investigations throughout the state. Some current projects and collaborations include continuing work in the Lower Suwannee, Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuges and Salt Springs as well as directing field schools and research in the middle St. Johns River Valley of northeast Florida. He is the editor and author of numerous archaeological publications on Florida and the greater southeastern U.S.
Valerie Burke DeLeon, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University,
Valerie is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Director of the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory (CAPHIL) at the University of Florida. Her interests include biological anthropology, morphometrics and comparative osteology. She assists the Museum with its bioarchaeological holdings. Current primate research has been published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology; Journal of Forensic Science and The Anatomical Record. In addition, the DeLeon Lab uses 3D virtual morphology as a means to research primate anatomical variation.
Collaborators
Keith Ashley, Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Florida
Keith is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. His research focuses on the archaeology of northeastern Florida and adjacent regions during the Woodland through early post-European contact periods. His approach is historical and multi-scalar, exploring social relations and interactions at local, regional, and macro-regional levels.
George D. Kamenov, Ph.D., Geology, University of Florida
George is a Senior Associate in Geological Sciences at the University of Florida. He manages the ICP-MS laboratory at the Geological Sciences Department. He uses the elemental and isotope information recorded in environmental samples to decipher their age, origin, and migratory pathways. In Florida he has worked on trace elemental and isotope analyses of peat and lake sediments, REE analyses of fossil bones, and in-situ laser ablation ICP-MS analyses of pottery. In addition, George has done a number of studies using Sr and Pb isotopes for tracing ancient human migration and modern cold cases. Currently he is working on multiple projects with Florida Archaeology curators and collections managers.
Paulette S. McFadden, Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Florida
Paulette completed her Ph.D. at UF and was a postdoctoral associate at the Florida Museum studying coastal evolution and sea-level changes and their effects, as manifested in the archaeological record. Currently she is the Law Enforcement Coordinator for the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research, training and assisting local and state agencies on enforcing and protecting archaeological resources. Paulette continues her geoarchaeological research on coastal paleoenvironmental dynamics working in collaboration with Wallis and others at the Garden Patch site, a pre-Columbian village complex and mound center in Horseshoe Cove on the northern Gulf Coast of Florida.
Thomas J. Pluckhahn, Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Georgia
Tom is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of South Florida. He has published several books and articles relating to archaeological research in the Southeast and Mesoamerica. Among his active research projects is a comprehensive study of the Crystal River site in west-central Florida. With support from the National Science Foundation, Pluckhahn has collaborated with Wallis and other Museum staff to create an open access database for Swift Creek Complicated Stamped ceramics using pottery from the Museum’s northern Florida holdings along with others from southern Georgia sites. In addition, he and his students are initiating new research on the Weeden Island and Safety Harbor sites in south Florida using Museum legacy collections as a basis for establishing site chronologies.
Asa Randall, Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Florida
Asa is an Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma in the Department of Anthropology. Research projects include Archaic (10,000-3000 years ago) communities of the Southeastern United States; hunter-gatherer complexity, mobility, and exchange; monumentality and social history; and paleohydrology and social changes. In Florida his field research focuses on documenting the history of Archaic (7300-3000 years ago) shell mounds. He is also developing a regional geodatabase of Archaic mounds using historic observations, excavation results and contemporary geospatial data. A recent publication, New Histories of Pre-Columbian Florida was co-edited with Museum curator, Neill Wallis.