Introducing Our New Associate Editor for Central America
Emily McClung de Tapia, our new associate editor for
Central America, received her BA (1971), MA (1974), and PhD (1979) in
anthropology from Brandeis University, specializing in paleoethnobotany. Living
in Mexico since 1974, she entered the Instituto de Investigaciones
Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
(UNAM) in 1975 as a research assistant in archaeology. She became a researcher
in 1981 and is now a principal investigator. She teaches in the anthropology
master's program at the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, UNAM, and is a
thesis director and advisor in the doctoral program. She initiated the
Laboratorio de Paleoetnobotánica y Paleoambiente in 1977 and directs it.
Her research interests include paleoethnobotany, human ecology,
paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and the origins of agriculture. She has
worked mainly in the Central Highlands of Mexico, including Teotihuacan,
Otumba, Xaltocan, Terremote-Tlaltenco, Ayotzingo, Cuicuilco, and has
coordinated analysis of botanical materials from the ex-convento de Santo
Domingo, Oaxaca, Yautepec, Morelos, and Xochicalco, Morelos. She teaches GIS
and is interested in statistical applications of spatial data at the regional
and site levels. Her current research consists of paleoenvironmental
reconstruction in the Teotihuacan region, based on edaphological,
geomorphological, and botanical data, and a new project that involves the
spatial analysis of artifacts and botanical evidence from post-Teotihuacan
caves east of the Pyramid of the Sun, excavated by Linda Manzanilla.