IWD 2020 In her own words… Breanne Reibl

10Mar 2020 by TMHC

Hi everyone! I am Breanne, the Archaeobotanical Analyst at TMHC. I also work as a Lab and Field Technician, meaning I wear a number of hats. I came to TMHC in September 2018 to mainly work on botanical material from The Ward project, but my research interests began in Ontario Iroquoian archaeobotany. For those of you wondering just what an archaeobotanist does, I look for seeds and other plant materials in soil samples that we take from sites. After the samples go through a process called flotation, I sort out the botanical remains and then identify what I can under microscope. The data gives me an idea as to which plants people in the past were using or eating and, in some cases, what time of year a site was being occupied. So much information from such tiny seeds!

The path to where I am now hasn’t been the most direct. From about the age of 6, I was obsessed with Egypt and decided that I wanted to become an archaeologist. By the time I reached university however, I had changed my mind and decided on biology. To be honest, I had completely forgotten about archaeology until I enrolled in an elective that my best friend had chosen (oops!). After completing my biology degree, I thought I’d take a few extra courses in anthropology to boost my average since I always did well in those courses. Instead, I found my calling and haven’t looked back! Although I loved biology, archaeology was a much better fit. And in my chosen specialty, archaeobotany, I get the best of both disciplines.

Being a woman in archaeology definitely has its challenges, especially in the CRM (cultural resource management) industry, but working at a company with strong female leadership has been empowering. I feel extremely fortunate to have so many wonderful female mentors at TMHC who demonstrate success in a very male-dominated field. Happy International Women’s Day!

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