Welcome to my homepage

I am an anthropologist, an archaeologist, and an Andeanist. My research revolves broadly around my interest in understanding processes of domination and resistance in our past and present. The major thrust of my research currently centers on understanding the variability and dimensions of warfare in prehispanic Peru through the study of fortifications, defensive landscapes, and experimental archaeology of sling use. I am interested in complexity, culture contact, ritual, identity, solidarity, and diversity. I draw on ethnohistory, comparative research, regional analysis, and the use of geographic information systems to examine the theoretical questions of interest to me. I am specialized in the archaeology of the Central Andes, and continue to develop my knowledge of that world region.

Both academic and field experiences have led me to be interested in the politics of, and gender and nationality in, archaeological research, popular uses of archaeology, and the unfortunate looting of archaeological sites.

In 2006 I began synthesizing literature on fortifications in 13 coastal valleys of Peru. In August 2009, funded by the National Science Foundation, I began a systemic study of prehispanic fortifications of the central and north coasts of Peru. This project, Awqa Pacha, is aimed at furthering our understanding of Andean warfare.

I am also currently working on studies of ritual healing and curing, archaeological textile bundles, quipus (Andean knot records), an ethnography of sling use and assessment of sling accuracy, the late prehispanic Chancay culture, and Chancay anthropomorphic figurines.

(Curriculum Vitae, current as of August 2011).