ArchaeoChats Ep 5: Dr Yoshi Maezumi, University of Amsterdam

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Yoshi Maezumi, a paleoecologist specializing in the legacy of human land use and fire management in modern ecosystems. She is a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Amsterdam and principal investigator of the Fire Intensity in Rainforest Ecotones (or FIRE) project which examines the role of fire in shaping Amazon rainforest-savanna ecotones.  Dr. Maezumi’s research includes a multi-proxy toolkit, with her two main areas of focus being macro-charcoal and pollen analyses for the reconstruction of past human-environment interactions. Yoshi combines archaeology and paleoclimate data to tell the story of plant cultivation, domestication, and the spread of food production in tropical South America. In this video she will tell us about a few of her new projects that will take her out of the Amazon and into Africa, Australia, and North America.