Autumn Rose is a Graduate Student associated with the UF Anthropology Department and Environmental Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History. She has just completed her Master’s degree and is now beginning her PhD. From March 29th to April 2nd, Autumn Rose traveled to Portland, Oregon with several museum colleagues to the Society for American Archaeology’s 88th Annual Meeting. This was her first time formally presenting a paper at a professional conference, titled Predators and Prey Among the Ancient Maya: A GIS Approach to Understanding Archaeofauna and Past Environments. This paper was based on a zooarchaeological project developed for a class from a few years prior that utilized data from the Florida Museum’s Environmental Archaeology collections.
This conference was a fantastic opportunity for Autumn to present and receive feedback on her research, and also to attend presentations held by, and support her colleagues at the Florida Museum and University of Florida’s Anthropology Department. She also attended a number of presentations given by and was able to discourse with other professionals within her field and sub-discipline that will provide inspiration for her developing her own PhD project in the semesters to come. This includes the opportunity to meet and meaningfully connect with several prevalent scholars that Autumn had come to be familiar with through her Master’s research, as well as reconnect with other academic professionals and alumni that have been a part of her academic journey.
Finally, the conference provided an opportunity to attend the annual Zooarchaeological Interest Group (ZIG) annual debrief. In collaboration with other gradate students from the University of Florida, they pitched an idea for a session topic during the meeting. Their idea was met with an extremely positive reception, and will likely be included in the program for the 89th Annual Meeting next year.