In 2004 I completed my Ph.D. dissertation on pre-contact agricultural practices and environmental change in Kahikinui, Maui, Hawaii, and I am currently working as a lecturer at the University of California’s Santa Cruz campus. My general research interests include archaeobotany, paleoecology, prehistoric agriculture, and microscopy.

My most recent post-doctoral research at UC Berkeley took place as part of the collaborative NSF Biocomplexity project "Human Ecodynamics in the Hawaiian Ecosystem: 1200-200 B.P.", where my work was focused on the identification and interpretation of wood charcoal and plant microfossils from excavations on the islands of Maui and Hawaii. In March, I will begin a two-year post-doctoral research position in the Institute of History and Philology at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica.

I also operate a small consulting and contracting business called James Coil Research Services, through which I provide archaeobotanical field and laboratory analysis and training, as well as photomicroscopy services and research design consultation. For more information about JCRS, please click here.

Curriculum Vitae
available in .pdf format