Emily Catherine Kracht

PhD Candidate in Anthropology (Archaeology Specialization), University of California-Santa Barbara

Areas of Expertise:

Connect with Emily

@emikracht.bsky.social

About Emily

Kracht's research focuses on pre-Colonial Caribbean archaeology, with a focus on understanding exchange and social organization in the past by utilizing applied chemistry techniques. Overarching themes in Kracht's writings include cultural heritage, the ancient past, science education and outreach, and scientific accessibility. Kracht serves on several internal institutional graduate committees focused on developing undergraduate research and supporting graduate students across the UC-system. She has a strong commitment to public outreach and developing educational materials for local communities surrounding archaeology, science, and cultural heritage.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | Member Spotlight | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Archaeology is in Danger, but the Public Can Save It

Commentary, April 2026

In the News

Opinion: "Lucayan Legacies: Indigenous Lifeways in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands," Emily Catherine Kracht, Book Review, The Past, September 20, 2023.

Research discussed by Jerald Pinson, in "Indigenous Communities Used the Caribbean Sea as an Aquatic Highway," Research News, Florida Museum, June 22, 2022.

Opinion: "Clear as Mud: The Origins of Early Pottery in the Lucayan Islands," Emily Catherine Kracht (with Lindsay Bloch), Research News, Florida Museum, January 11, 2022.

Publications

"Palmetto Ware Pottery of the Lucayan Islands: Reverse Engineering a Novel Pottery Type" (with Lindsay C. Bloch, John M. Jaeger, and William F. Keegan). Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 21, no. 2 (2026): 304-331.

Uses mineralogical, elemental, and functional analysis of clay materials and archaeological pottery from across the Lucayan Islands to reconstruct the recipe of Palmetto Ware, highlighting the Lucayans’ strategic use of raw materials in a limited resource environment.

"Accessibility and Exchange in Boriquén: Compositional Study of Ceramics in Pre-Colonial Puerto Rico" (with Douglas J. Kennett, Reniel Rodríguez Ramos, Neill J. Wallis, and Ellery Frahm). Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 21, no. 1 (2026): 151-173.

Uses a newly introduced calibration set for portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) to analyze more than 300 ceramic sherds from the Yale Peabody Museum that had been recovered from 12 sites across Puerto Rico. Results indicate intense levels of exchange and mobility between communities on the island for hundreds of years.

"Is It Better to be Objectively Wrong or Subjectively Right? Testing the Accuracy and Consistency of the Munsell Capsure Spectrocolorimeter for Archaeological Applications" (with Lindsay C. Bloch, Jacob D. Hosen, Michelle J. LeFebvre, Claudette J. Lopez, Rachel Woodcock, and William F. Keegan). Advances in Archaeological Practice 9, no. 2 (2021).

Employs three separate field and laboratory trials to observe systematic mismatches in the results obtained via a field-ready digital color-matching instrument which is marketed to archaeologists as a replacement for Munsell Soil Color Charts (MSCC). Discusses how project goals and limitations should be considered when deciding which color-recording method to employ in field and laboratory settings and identifies optimal procedures.