Anna Florin

I am a Lecturer in Archaeological Science at the Australian National University, and an Associate Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong. As an archaeobotanist, I study charred plant macrofossils, better understood as food scraps, from ancient fireplaces to understand the diets of people in the past. I specialise in the analysis of root and tuber vegetables, a staple of Australian diets, and work closely with Traditional Owners to understand how different plant-processing practices can be seen archaeologically.

My PhD research focused on archaeobotanical analysis at Madjedbebe, a 65,000-year-old site on Mirarr Country in northern Australia. It explored long-term change and continuity in different plant-based foraging and land use strategies, in comparison to changes in climate, sea-level and vegetation.

I am currently researching the role of plant foods in early human migrations out of Africa, and the complexity of long-term human-plant interactions within Indigenous communities in Australia, New Guinea and Island Southeast Asia.