Clarissa Cagnato (2016-2018, 2022-2024)

As a paleoethnobotanist specializing in the analysis of macrobotanicals and starch grains, Dr. Cagnato aims to address questions regarding past cuisines, rituals, and human-environmental relations. Click on the following link to know more about her research: Clarissa Cagnato.

In 2016 she received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis with her dissertation focused on the cuisine and use of ritual plants by ancient Maya people living in northwestern Petén, Guatemala.

Dr. Cagnato has worked on archaeological projects in Iceland, France, Honduras, and Guatemala and has analyzed plant remains from a French/Spanish colonial period garden in New Orleans, Louisiana, and from archaeological sites in Guatemala. In 2016 she joined the Plaza of the Columns Complex Project with the aim of reconstructing the diet and ritual use of plants by the ancient inhabitants of Teotihuacan. In addition to working on paleoethnobotanical material from Teotihuacan, Dr. Cagnato continues to collaborate with several other archaeological projects in Guatemala.

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Imelda Perla García Hernández (2024)

Perla is a Biologist with a Master’s Degree in Biosciences from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional and has a specialty in paleobotanic studies about paleoflora from the Late Cretaceous period in Northern Mexico. Currently, she teaches at the ENCRyM’s (Escuela Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museografía “Manuel del Castillo Negrete”) undergraduate program and is affiliated with its Biology Laboratory.

She has experience as a specialized technician in the management and conservation of biological collections. She has also undertaken specialized studies, analyzing and identifying organic materials associated with cultural goods from different time periods: paleontological, archaeological (PPCC and Tlalocan projects), and modern (analyzing deterioration of the osteological reference collection at INAH’s Archaeozoology Laboratory).