Dr S. Anna Florin
Areas of expertise
- Archaeological Science 430101
- Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Archaeology 450101
- Archaeology Of Asia, Africa And The Americas 430102
- Human Impacts Of Climate Change And Human Adaptation 410103
Research interests
Archaeobotany; Ethnobotany; Australian archaeology; Human evolution and dispersals; Archaeological theory
Biography
Anna Florin is a Lecturer in Archaeological Science in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology. Previously she was a Research Fellow at St John's College, Cambridge, and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, the University of Cambridge. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Queensland in 2021.
Anna’s research is focused on developing long-term perspectives on the role of plant foods, and their processing and management in world economies. As an archaeobotanist, she studies charred plant macrofossils – food scraps, from ancient fireplaces – to understand the diets of people in the past. Anna specialises 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.
Her research, focused in Australia, New Guinea and Island Southeast Asia, has implications for key topics in global archaeology. This includes the role of plant foods in early human migrations outside Africa, ongoing cultural adaptations to climate change, and new perspectives on plant and landscape management practices in “hunter-gatherer” societies.
Publications
- Florin, S 2022, 'Identifying the presence of vegetative parenchyma'.
- Florin, S, Fairbairn, A, Nango, M et al. 2022, '65,000 years of changing plant food and landscape use at Madjedbebe, Mirarr country, northern Australia', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 284.
- Fairbairn, A & Florin, S 2022, 'Archaeological identification of fragmented nuts and fruits from key Asia-Pacific economic tree species using anatomical criteria: Comparative analysis of Canarium, Pandanus and Terminalia', Archaeology in Oceania, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 160-188.
- Florin, S 2022, 'The role of plant foods in the evolution and dispersal of early humans: A perspective from across the Wallace Line', Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft fuer Urgeschichte, vol. 30, pp. 13-39.
- Hayes, E, Field, J, Coster, A et al. 2021, 'Holocene grinding stones at Madjedbebe reveal the processing of starchy plant taxa and animal tissue', Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, vol. 35.
- Florin, S, Roberts, P, Marwick, B et al. 2021, 'Pandanus nutshell generates a palaeoprecipitation record for human occupation at Madjedbebe, northern Australia', Nature Ecology & Evolution, vol. 5, pp. 295-303.
- Roberts, P, Buhrich, A, Caetano-Andrade, V et al. 2021, 'Reimagining the relationship between Gondwanan forests and Aboriginal land management in Australia's "Wet Tropics"', iScience, vol. 24, no. 3.
- Denham, T, Barton, H, Castillo, C et al. 2020, 'The domestication syndrome in vegetatively propagated field crops', Annals of Botany, vol. 125, no. 4, pp. 581-597.
- Florin, S, Fairbairn, A, Nango, M et al. 2020, 'The first Australian plant foods at Madjedbebe, 65,000–53,000 years ago', Nature Communications, vol. 11.
- Clarkson, C, Jacobs, Z, Marwick, B et al. 2017, 'Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago', Nature, vol. 547, pp. 306-310.
- Florin, S & Carah, X 2016, 'Moving past the "Neolithic problem": The development and interaction of subsistence systems across northern Sahul', Quaternary International, vol. 489, pp. 46-62.
- Clarkson, C, Smith, M, Marwick, B et al. 2015, 'The archaeology, chronology and stratigraphy of Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II): A site in northern Australia with early occupation', Journal of Human Evolution, vol. 83, pp. 46-64.
