Anna Shoemaker

Anna Shoemaker completed her BA in Archaeology at SFU, writing an honours thesis on the archaeobotanical remains from a site in Ghana, before travelling to Ethiopia to participate in excavations with Dr. Catherine D’Andrea.

Her MSc thesis in environmental archaeology at University College London, and a year working as a researcher with the British Institute in Eastern Africa, solidified her interest in East African history and ecology. For the last decade, she has been engaged in archaeological research in a range of locations across the region, with a focus on issues of climate, conservation, and colonization.

Her doctoral research with Uppsala University re-examined narratives of Amboseli, Kenya having been an environment exclusively inhabited by subsistence-based pastoralists, demonstrating the long-term existence and importance of agriculture and trade in the landscape. Continuing to pursue interdisciplinary research in north-western Tanzania, she collaborated closely with ecologists, environmental modellers, and historians with the Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change in eastern Africa project. Excited by the opportunity to be more directly involved in crafting policy around heritage and development in Canada, Anna has returned to British Columbia and is working as a senior archaeologist with Terra Archaeology Limited.