About
MPhil Archaeological Science, University of Cambridge, 2008
BA Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 2005
Supervisor: Dr. Michael Richards
Research
Stable isotope analysis particularly relating to paleodiet and mobility patterns, indigenous plant use and cultivation, food practices, human-environmental interactions, traditional ecological knowledge, agricultural origins, soil and land formation processes, geoarchaeology.
Publications
Selected Papers and Publications:
Diaz, Alejandra, Tamsin C O’Connell, Lisa A Maher, and Jay T Stock
In rev Subsistence and mobility strategies in the Epipalaeolithic: A stable isotope analysis of human and faunal remains at ‘Uyun al-Hammam, northern Jordan. Manuscript under review by Journal of Archaeological Science.
Diaz, Alejandra
2011 Determining Prehistoric Protein and Plant Resource Utilization in the Mid-Fraser Region Through Stable Isotopes. Paper presented at the University of British Columbia Department of Anthropology Graduate Student Conference, Vancouver, March 19.
Homan, A., N. Lyons, R. Leon, A. Diaz, T. Leon, T. Hoffmann, and D. Miller
2010 A Case for ‘Incipient Agriculture’ on the Northwest Coast of North America: The View from DhRp-52, Katzie Territory, Maple Ridge, BC. Paper presented at 43rd annual Canadian Archaeological Association meeting Calgray, April 28 – May 2.
Michael Richards, Alejandra Diaz, Suzanne Villeneuve and Brian Hayden
2011 Dietary isotope analysis of canids and other fauna from the Keatley Creek site. Poster presented at Society for American Archaeology 76th Annual Meeting. Session title: Complex hunter-gatherers of the western Canadian Plateau: new research directions in prehistoric pithouse villages, Sacramento, CA, March 30-April 3.
Additional Description
Current Projects: My current research explores the spatial and temporal differences in diet among prehistoric populations in British Columbia, specifically reconstructing diet and diet changes through time along the Fraser River from Vancouver into the Interior of British Columbia. Through using stable isotope analysis as a methodological tool I hope to re-evaluate resource acquisition and utilization, test the emerging evidence of diet diversity and variability that comes from other methods (botanical, paleobotanical, and faunal remains) and finally compare these lines of evidence with the narratives recounted in oral histories and traditional use studies.PhD, Anthropological Archaeology