Andrew Wyatt received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2008, and his B.A. in Literature from Antioch College in 1989. He works in Latin America with a focus on the Maya area of southern Mexico and Central America, and the Brazilian Amazon. His research interests include agricultural production, land use, and ancient environments in rural and hinterland societies with a focus on household production and political economy. As an environmental archaeologist, he reconstructs subsistence and land use practices, regional historical ecology, and climate change through archaeological excavation, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and the analysis of ancient plant remains. He is currently conducting research in Gurupá and the Caxiuanã Forest in Brazil, the Maya site of Motul de San Jose in Guatemala, and Fort Negley in Nashville. Among his classes at MTSU are introductory classes in archaeology and world prehistory, Research Methods in Anthropology, Mesoamerican Archaeology, Ancient Civilizations, and Environmental Archaeology.

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Peer Reviewed Publications

Wyatt, Andrew R.
In Press Gardens of the Maya. In The Nuts and Bolts of the Maya Economy. Marilyn A. Masson, David A. Freidel, and Arthur A. Demarest, eds. University Press of Florida.

Peres, Tanya M., Aaron Deter-Wolf, Kelly Ledford, Joey Keasler, Ryan Robinson, and Andrew R. Wyatt
2019     Archaeological Investigations at 40DV7. In The Cumberland River Archaic of Middle Tennessee. Edited by Tanya M. Peres and Aaron Deter-Wolf. University Press of Florida.

Robin, Cynthia, Andrew R. Wyatt, James Meierhoff, and Caleb Kestle
2015     Political Interaction: A View from the 2000 Year History of the Farming Community of Chan. In Classic Maya Polities of the Southern Lowlands: Integration, Interaction, Dissolution. Damien B. Marken and                James L. Fitzsimmons, eds. Pp. 99-122. University Press of Colorado.

Wyatt, Andrew R. 
2015    Agricultural/Horticultural Sites. In The Archaeology of Food: An Encyclopedia. Karen Bescherer Metheny and Mary C. Beaudry, eds. Pp. 4-6. AltaMira Press/Rowman & Littlefield.

Wyatt, Andrew R. 
2014    The Scale and Organization of Ancient Maya Water Management. Water 1:449-467.

Tomasic, John, Edwin J. Miller, Mark Volmut, and Andrew R. Wyatt
2012    The Eastep Site (14MY388): A Late Archaic/Woodland Period Site in Southeast Kansas. The Kansas Anthropologist 33:103-158.

Wyatt, Andrew R., David Jarzen, and Kitty Emery
2012    Paleoecological Investigations at Motul de San Jose. In Politics, History, and Economy at the Classic Maya Center Motul de San Jose, Guatemala. Antonia E. Foias and Kitty F. Emery, eds. Pp. 275-290.                     University Press of Florida.

Wyatt, Andrew R.
2012    Agricultural Practices at the Chan Site: Farming and Political Economy in an Ancient Maya Community. In Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community in Belize. Cynthia Robin, ed. Pp. 71-88. University of                 Arizona Press.

Robin, Cynthia, Andrew R. Wyatt, Laura Kosakowsky, Santiago Juarez, Ethan Kalosky, and Elise Docster
2012    A Changing Cultural Landscape: Settlement Survey and GIS at Chan. In Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community in Belize. Cynthia Robin, ed. Pp. 19-41. University of Arizona Press.

Wyatt, Andrew R.
2008    Pine as an Element of Household Refuse in the Fertilization of Ancient Maya Agricultural Fields. Journal of Ethnobiology 28(2): 244-258.

Monaghan, John and Andrew R. Wyatt
2008    Mesoamerica. In A Companion to Latin American History. Thomas Holloway, ed. Pp. 30-45. Blackwell Publishing, Boston.

Wyatt, Andrew R. 
2002    Mexico and Central America, Pre-Columbian. In The Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. William Woys Weaver, Ed. Pp. 497-502. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York.

Lentz, David L., Mary E.D. Pohl, Kevin O. Pope and Andrew R. Wyatt
2001    “Prehistoric Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) Domestication in Mexico.” Economic Botany Vol. 55 No.3, July-September 2001.

Symposia Volumes

Wyatt, Andrew R.
2006 Excavations of Agricultural Terraces at Chan Belize. In Papers of the 2005 Belize Archaeology Symposium. Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History, Belize.

Reports

Wyatt, Andrew R. and Haley Hanson
2016   Archaeobotanical Analysis of Plant Remains from Chachaklu’um, Guatemala. Report on File with the Instituto de Anthropología y Historia, Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Wyatt, Andrew R. and Tara Imoto
2014   Archaeobotanical Analysis of Plant Remains from K’ante’tuul, Guatemala. Report on File with the Instituto de Anthropología y Historia, Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Wyatt, Andrew R., Rebecca Friedel, and Whitney Cleaver
2011   Archaeobotanical Analysis of Plant Remains from the Eastep Streambank Stabilization Project, Montgomery County, Kansas.

Wyatt, Andrew R. and Kathryn Brayton
2010   Archaeobotanical Analysis of Plant Remains from Chiquiuitan, Guatemala.

Wyatt, Andrew R.
2005   2005 Agricultural Terrace Investigations at Chan. In Chan Project: 2005 Season. Report on File with the Belize Institute of Archaeology.

Wyatt, Andrew R.
2004   Excavations in Operation 4. In Chan Project: 2004 Season. Report on file with the Belize Institute of Archaeology.

Wyatt, Andrew R. and Ethan Kalosky
2003   Chan Settlement Survey. In Chan Project 2003 Season. Report on file with the Belize Institute of Archaeology.

Wyatt, Andrew R.
2002   “Sondeos en Chultunes en Motul de San Jose.” In Proyecto Motul de San Jose Informe # 4: Temporada de Campo 2001. Antonia Foias, editor. Williams University.

Halperin, Christina, Andrew R. Wyatt, Camilo Luin, Erin McCracken, and Tirso Morales
2002   “Programa de Excavaciones de Sondeo.” In Proyecto Motul de San Jose Informe # 4: Temporada de Campo 2001. Antonia Foias, editor. Williams University.

Moriarty, Matthew and Andrew R. Wyatt
2002   “Reconocimiento Preliminar de Algunos Sitios Menoresen la Zona de Motul de San Jose.” In Proyecto Motul de San Jose Informe # 4: Temporada de Campo 2001. Antonia Foias, editor. Williams University.

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Conference Presentations

2019    Palm (Arecaceae) and Ritual in Maya Caves (with Cameron S. Griffith and Rebecca Freidel). Society for Economic Botany 60th Annual Meeting, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.

2018    In the Garden: Homegarden Studies in the American Neotropics. Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. (Session Organizer)

2017    The Past and Present in Maya Gardens: A Diachronic Perspective of Household Production. 50th Annual Chacmool Archaeology Conference. University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

2017    The Use of Palm (Arecaceae) in Maya Ritual at Stela Cave, Belize (w/ Cameron S. Griffith and Rebecca Freidel). Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia,               Canada. (Session Chair)

2016    Gardens of the Maya. Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida.

2015   “Me Gusta”: Lacandon Homegardens in Lake Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico. Society of Ethnobiology Annual Meeting 2015. University of California Santa Barbara, California.

2014   “Me Gusta”: Lacandon Homegardens in Lake Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico. Midwest Conference on Mesoamerican Archaeology and Ethnohistory 2014. Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Michigan.

2013    Our Dead Are Never Dead to Us: Southern Maya Lowland Chultunes as Burial Chambers (w/ Joan Crenshaw). Society for American Archaeology 78th Annual Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii. (Session                 Chair)

2012   Ancient Maya Resource Management: Water, Households, and Community at Chan, Belize. Society for American Archaeology 77rd Annual Meeting. Memphis, Tennessee.

2011   Every Earth is Fit for Burial: Southern Maya Lowland Chultunes as Burial Chambers. Midwest Conference on Mesoamerican Archaeology and Ethnohistory 2011. Michigan State University, East                    Lansing, Michigan.

2009   Ancient Maya Agricultural Practices: Paleoethnobotanical Studies on Agricultural Terraces at Chan, Belize. 53rd International Congress of Americanists. Mexico City, Mexico.

2009   Local Water Management and Social Organization at Chan, Belize. Society for American Archaeology 74rd Annual Meeting. Atlanta, Georgia.

2009   Examining Late Preclassic and Classic Period Power and Wealth: Research at K’o, Peten, Guatemala (with John Tomasic). Society for American Archaeology 74rd Annual Meeting. Atlanta, Georgia.

2008   Where does the Power Flow? Local Water Management Practices among the Ancient Maya at Chan, Belize. American Anthropological Association 107th Annual Meeting. San Francisco, California.

2008   Agricultural Practices at the Chan Site: Farming and Political Economy in an Ancient Maya Community. Society for American Archaeology 73rd Annual Meeting. Vancouver, British Columbia.

2007   The Good Earth: The Organization of Agricultural Production at Chan, Belize. 40th Annual Chacmool Archaeology Conference. University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

2007   Ancient Maya Terrace Agriculture at Chan, Belize. Midwest Conference on Mesoamerican Archaeology and Ethnohistory 2007. Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.

2006   The Paleoethnobotany of Intensive Agriculture: Agricultural Terraces at Chan, Belize. Society for American Archaeology 71st Annual Meetings.  San Juan, Puerto Rico.

2006   Terracing and Sustainable Agriculture in the Belize River Valley: New Data on the Ancient Maya from Chan, Belize. 52nd International Congress of Americanists.  Seville, Spain.

2005   Investigations on Agricultural Terraces at the Chan Site. 3rd Annual Belize Archaeology Symposium.  San Ignacio, Belize.

2005   Excavations on Agricultural Terraces at Chan, Belize. Midwest Conference on Mesoamerican Archaeology and Ethnohistory 2005.  University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.

2004   Paleoethnobotany in the Upper Belize Valley (with Christopher Morehart and David Lentz). Society for American Archaeology 69th Annual Meetings. Montreal, Canada.

2004   Plant Remains at the Olmec site of La Venta (with David Lentz).  Society for American Archaeology 69th Annual Meetings. Montreal, Canada.

2004   Agriculture in an Ancient Maya Farming Village: Recent and Future Research at Chan, Belize.  Midwest Conference on Mesoamerican Archaeology and Ethnohistory 2004.  Indiana University,                     Bloomington, Indiana.  

Invited Lectures  

2018    Retelling the Story of the Amazon. Middle Cumberland Archaeological Society, Nashville, TN.

2018    Origens, Cultura, e Ambiente: Amazonian Archaeology and the MTSU Field School. Rutherford County Archaeological Society, Murfreesboro, TN.

2016    Ancient Maya Rural Economy: Agriculture and Food Production in the Central American Rainforest. Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.

2016    Archaeobotanical Investigations: Plant Use and Human Culture from a Mesoamerican Perspective. Middle Cumberland Archaeological Society, Nashville, TN.

2016    Mythbusting the Maya: 50 Centuries (and 20 Years) in the Petén. Rutherford County Archaeological Society, Murfreesboro, TN.

2003    Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands: The View from Motul de San Jose, Guatemala. South Suburban Archaeological Society.  Homewood, Illinois.

2003    Archaeology and Agriculture at the Classic Maya Site of Motul de San Jose. Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana.

2002    Paleoethnobotany and Cuisine of the Ancient Maya. Burpee Museum of Natural History, Rockford, Illinois.

2000    Paleoethnobotanical Research in the Maya Region: Past and Future. University of Illinois at Chicago Anthropology Society, Chicago, Illinois.

2001    Paleoethnobotanical Investigations at Motul de San Jose. Chicago Maya Society, Chicago, Illinois.    

Posters

2010   Every Earth is Fit for Burial: Southern Maya Lowland Chultunes as Burial Chambers. American Anthropological Association 109th Annual Meeting. New Orleans, Louisiana.

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Grants

2018   Investigation of Amazon Dark Earth in Caxiuanã National Forest, Brazil: Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc. ($20,000) 

2017   Análise Arqueobotânica de Práticas de Uso da Terra e Formação do Solo na Amazônia Pré-Colonial Brasileira:Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Research Fellowship ($2500)

2017   The Creation of a Landscape: An Archaeobotanical Analysis of Land Use Practices and Soil Formation in the Precolumbian Brazilian Amazon: MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity                    ($3640)

2016   Tropical Archaeology of Brazilian Agricultural Systems (Co-PI with David K. Wright, Seoul National University): National Research Foundation of Korea ($45,000)

2014   A Study of Lacandon Maya Houselot Gardens at Lake Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico: MTSU Faculty Research and Creative Activity ($3000)

2013   A Study of Lacandon Maya Houselot Gardens at Lake Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico: MTSU Access and Diversity Grant ($5000)

2005   Ancient Maya Agricultural Terraces at Chan, Belize: National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant ($11,916)

2004   Archeological Investigations at Chan, Belize: Terrace Agriculture and Political Economy at a Classic Maya Farming Village: Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.                    ($8500)

2000   Genetic Identification of Ancient Plants and Classic Maya Agriculture in Guatemala: Sigma Xi Grant in Aid of Research ($500)

Awards

2009  Outstanding Dissertation Award: University of Illinois at Chicago

2007  Dean’s Scholar Award: University of Illinois Chicago ($18,000)

2001  Provost Award for Graduate Research: University of Illinois Chicago ($3000)

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Field Research

2016   Gurupá Archaeology Project/MTSU Archaeological Field School, Gurupá, Brazil

2015   Gurupá Archaeology Project, Gurupá, Brazil

2014   Motul de San Jose Archaeology Project, San Jose, Guatemala

2013   Lake Mensabak Houselot Garden Project, Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico

2011   Lake Mensabak Archaeology Project, Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico

2009   Lake Mendoza Archaeology Project, Laguna Mendoza, Guatemala

2007   Lake Mendoza Archaeology Project, Laguna Mendoza, Guatemala

2005   Chan Archaeology Project, San Jose Succotz, Belize

2004   Chan Archaeology Project, San Jose Succotz, Belize

2004   Belgian Early Neolithic, Brussels, Belgium

2003   Chan Archaeology Project, San Jose Succotz, Belize

2002   Motul de San Jose Archaeology Project, San Jose, Guatemala

2001   Motul de San Jose Archaeology Project, San Jose, Guatemala

2000   Motul de San Jose Archaeology Project, San Jose, Guatemala

2000   Si’an Ka’an Biosphere Reserve Primate Study, Si’an Ka’an, Quintana Roo, Mexico

1999   San Francisco de Arriba Archaeology Project, San Francisco, Oaxaca, Mexico

1998   Mayflower Archaeology Project, Hopkins, Belize

Laboratory Research

2015   MCAP (Middle Cumberland Archaeology Project), Nashville, Tennessee

2015   BRASS (Belize River Archaeological Settlement Survey)/El Pilar Program

2015   Motul de San Jose Archaeology Project, University of Florida Museum

2015   Western Belize Regional Cave Project, Indiana University

2010   Motul de San Jose Archaeology Project, Florida Museum of Natural History

2010   Eastep Streambank Stabilization Project, Montgomery County, Kansas

2008   Holmul Archaeological Project, Vanderbilt University

2008   Chiquiuitan Archaeology Project, Vanderbilt University

2006   Chan Archaeology Project, Northwestern University and Chicago Botanic Gardens

2004   San Andres Archaeology Project, Chicago Botanic Gardens

2002   Motul de San Jose Environmental Project, Guatemala

1998   San Andres Archaeology Project, New York Botanical Gardens

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