University of Cambridge

Graduate Student, Biological Anthropology

St. John's College

Thesis Title: The Bioarchaeology of Adaptation to Andean Environments: A Combined Osteometric and Anthropometric Approach

About

My primary research interests concern the relationship between human morphology and both social and natural environments. Understanding these interactions has great potential to inform us about the nature of human adaptation and adaptability and the consequences of economic variation and social interaction for human health and biology.

The focus of my PhD research is on past and modern populations in the Andes of South America. The Andes and adjacent coast provide a unique range of extremely challenging environments, yet humans have thrived here for millennia. For example, the Atacama Desert is the driest in the world, while the mountains present an array of problems including hypoxia, cold, and low primary productivity. My research aims to examine the influences of Andean life on human morphology, its temporal and geographical variation, and the interaction between biological and cultural adaptations to these varied challenges.

The project takes an innovative interdisciplinary approach by combining an osteological exploration of body size, proportions, health and activity in north Chilean archaeological populations with work on the inter-relationship between morphology and socioeconomic factors among living Peruvians. This research involves collaborations spanning archaeology and human biology, and will help to bridge the divide between research on morphology and health in modern and past populations.

The osteoarchaeological component focuses on north Chilean hunter-fisher-gatherers and agro-pastoralists and examines socio-cultural and environmental signatures in human morphology, including the impact of subsistence practices, social complexity and social interaction (e.g. long distance trade). In living children from highland and coastal Peru, I am investigating the influences of environmental stress (e.g. hypoxia or socioeconomic conditions) on body size and proportions, and the degree to which such morphological characteristics reflect the early life environment. The results will have important implications both for the interpretation of archaeological data as well as our understanding of body proportions as an indicator of environmental stress in modern populations.

My PhD research is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (www.ahrc.ac.uk). I received fieldwork funding from the Centre for Latin American Studies Chile Projects Competition (2009, 2010), Abbey-Santander Travel Grants (2009, 2010), Worts Travelling Scholars Fund (2009) and St. John's College Robert Sloley Fund (2009, 2010) (all University of Cambridge).

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