Dr. Phil Dering

Phil Dering is an archaeologist who specializes in identifying plant remains from excavated sites.  Archeobotany combines the study of botany and archeology, and is a discipline that studies how people used plants for food, shelter, tools, and medicine, and how this use has changed over the last several thousand years.  He was raised in the Coastal Bend of Texas, where he pursued surf and redfish, and an intense interest in natural history.  His MS in Botany and PhD in anthropology both came from Texas A&M University.  He was the director of the Archeobotany Laboratory and taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University for twelve years.  During the course of his career, he has identified plant materials recovered from archeological sites from three continents, seven countries, and ten states. 

Dering is particularly interested in experimenting with ancient ways of using plants, an interest which has helped him with the technical aspects of archaeological analysis.  His regional focus is Texas, northern Mexico, and the southwestern United States.  He owns and runs his own laboratory in Comstock, Texas, and is the archeologist for the Texas Forest Service.

Ongoing Research