I received my Ph.D in September 2007, as student of Professor John Rick at Stanford
University, in the Department of Anthropological Sciences and affiliated also with the
Archaeology Center. I'm currently a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in the Introduction
to the Humanities program at Stanford. 

My dissertation research was at the site of Chavín de Huántar, in the Peruvian Central
Andes, and focused on landscape modification and environmental risk during the centuries
of Chavín's existence (roughly 1200-500 BCE). This work included geomorphologic
survey as well as archaeological excavation, and I do a substantial amount of GIS
analysis. 

I continue to investigate anthropogenic and geomorphic landscape change at Chavín, as
well as conducting research into the circulation of obsidian in prehistoric Peru. I have
also been involved with a project aimed at quantifying the damage done by looitng of
archaeological sites, based in the Stanford Archaeology Center's Cultural Heritage
Resource.

Central Andes

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Landscape and Environment: Insights from the Prehispanic Central Andes, Journal of Archaeological Research (2010)
Attention to human–environment relationships in the central Andes has a long history. Although the area...
 

Chavin

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Reconstructing an Engineered Environment in the Central Andes: Landscape Geoarchaeology at Chavín de Huántar, Peru, The Archaeology of Anthropogenic Environments (2010)

Chavín de Huántar, a Formative Period ceremonial center in the Peruvian Central Andes, has been...

 

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Implications of the Fluvial History of the Wacheqsa River for Hydrologic Engineering and Water Use at Chavín de Huántar, Peru (with David K. Keefer), Geoarchaeology (2009)
Channeling of water through a variety of architectural features represents a significant engineering investment at...
 

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Reconstructing landscape at Chavin de Huantar, Peru : A GIS-based approach, Journal of Archaeological Science (2009)
The landscape around the prehistoric Peruvian ceremonial center of Chavin de Huantar has undergone extensive...
 

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Geomorfología y Paisaje en Chavín de Huántar, Museo Nacional Chavín (2008)

El sitio arqueológico de Chavín de Huántar tiene varias décadas como enfoque de investigaciones arqueológicas,...

 

Looting

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Buying, Selling, Owning the Past, Stanford Report (2009)
Stanford Report coverage of my work with Neil Brodie on using remote sensing to quantify...
 

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Using Google Earth to Identify Looting Damage in Jordan (2009)
One of the results of my work with Neil Brodie on using Google Earth to...
 

PhD Dissertation

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Sociopolitical and Geomorphologic Dynamics at Chavín de Huántar, Peru (2007)

The research presented here links questions of human-environment interaction and emergent sociopolitical complexity in the...