Yifan Wang

My research explores human–animal–environment relationships in the past, with a focus on zooarchaeology, stable isotope geochemistry, and Indigenous perspectives on animal diet, mobility, habitat health, and paleoclimate changes. My dissertation, Inclusive Sustainability: Evaluating Classic Maya Environment–Human–Animal Relationships through Zooarchaeological Stable Isotopic Analysis, integrates zooarchaeological and multi-isotope analyses (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, strontium) with archaeological, environmental, and Indigenous relational perspectives to investigate anthropogenic impacts on local animals and forests in an effort to separate regional climate change effects. By moving beyond the human-nature dichotomy and human-centric views, my work examines how Maya communities and nonhuman beings shaped shared landscapes and sustained relationships through periods of social and climatic transformation.