Staff

I am an archaeobotanist who is focusing on tropical past plant-based technology (covering periods as far back as prehistory), I am using plant anatomy and phytoliths for identifying and understanding ancient plant materials. I took up my Masters in Archaeology at the National Museum of Natural History (Paris, 2015) and my PhD at the University Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, 2020).

I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the university Pompeu Fabra and a researcher associate at the Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution. I carried out fieldwork in Taiwan and the Philippines for my PhD research on basket making. I am using a participant-observation approach to learn about the raw materials, techniques, technology, and purposes of basket making. This approach allows me to document traditional knowledge about plant materials and crafting techniques, to understand how artisans select and evaluate raw materials and to create reference collections of contemporary plant materials and artifacts. This ethnographic data provides crucial context for interpreting archaeological plant remains and artifacts.

My research aims to illuminate aspects of past societies that are often invisible in the archaeological record, such as perishable technologies and plant-based crafts. This is particularly important in tropical regions, where organic materials rarely survive in archaeological contexts.