Biographical note
Maria completed a bachelor degree in Anthropology in 2013 and a bachelor degree in Chemistry in 2014 at the University of Costa Rica. After that, guided by her passion for interdisciplinary research, she completed a master’s degree in Geography at the University of Georgia in the United States in early 2017. She started her PhD at James Cook University in 2017.
Research topic
Multi-proxy evidence of long-term environmental change in northern Australia’s tropical savannas
Research outline
My project aims to create a high-resolution record of environmental change (sedimentological, vegetation and water balance) in the tropical savannas of northern Australia. This will be achieved by analysing a 20,000 year-sediment core retrieved from Sanamere lagoon (northern tip of Cape York) using a series of organic and inorganic geochemistry techniques.
Supervisory Team
Research Grants
Fulbright Foreign Student Scholarship 2015-2017
Delta Kappa Gamma World Fellowship 2015-2017
James Cook Postgraduate Student Scholarship 2017-2020
Conference papers
Rivera-Araya, M. J., Pilaar Birch, S. E. (2017, March). Stable isotope signatures in white-tailed deer as a seasonal paleoenvironmental proxy: A case study from Georgia, United States. Annual Meeting Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, Canada.
Rivera-Araya, M. J. (2017, February). Assessing stable isotope data from archaeological white-tailed deer remains as a palaeoenvironmental proxy at the site of La Joyanca, Northwestern Petén, Yucatan Peninsula. Geography Graduate Research Symposium. University of Georgia, Athens, United States.
Rivera-Araya, M. J., Durham, R. (2016, August). Monitoring drought and water balance in the Guanacaste Province to enhance decision making and response planning in Costa Rica. Annual Earth Science Application Showcase. Washington, D.C. United States of America. 2016
Publications
Speakman, R. J., Hadden, C. S., Colvin, M. H., Cramb, J., Jones, K. C., Jones, T. W., Kling, C. L., Lulewicz, I., Napora, K. G., Reinberger, K. L., Ritchison, B. T., Rivera-Araya, M. J., Smith, A. K., & Thompson, V. D. (2017). Choosing a path to the ancient world in a modern market: The reality of faculty jobs in archaeology. American Antiquity. doi:10.1017/aaq.2017.36