Archaeology

Tiffiny Tung, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Social and Natural Sciences, professor of anthropology and vice provost for undergraduate education, has been named a senior fellow in the Pre-Columbian Studies program at Harvard’s Dumbarton Oaks. The fellowship underscores Tung’s notable contributions to anthropology and Andean archaeology. Read More

Professor Steven Wernke's groundbreaking archaeological mapping project has secured its most substantial funding yet: a $625,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Using satellite imagery and artificial intelligence, Wernke and his team are mapping archaeological sites across the Andes Mountain Range to build a detailed inventory that will improve our understanding of Andean settlement systems and human-modified landscapes. Read More

Since 2020, Vanderbilt archaeologist Michelle Young has directed the Cinnabar Roads Project, which explores ancient exchange routes used to transport cinnabar, a powdery mineral made of mercury and sulfur that was extracted and processed for pigment. Young’s two major research initiatives approach mapping ancient networks of interaction and mobility between the highland region and the coast, employing a variety of methods at different scales. Under her leadership, the Cinnabar Roads Project has registered more than 100 archaeological sites in the Huancavelica region. Read More

With a prestigious new grant, archaeologist Ari Caramanica will explore what ancient people can teach us about dealing with the most pressing environmental issue of our time. Read More

Steven Wernke, associate professor and chair of anthropology, has developed GeoPACHA (Geospatial Platform for Andean Culture, History and Archaeology), a web application that allows researchers to map archaeological sites in the Andes at a greater scale than ever before. GeoPACHA has enabled new discoveries about past human occupation in the region that will be featured in six articles in the February issue of the journal Antiquity. Read More

A $350,000 grant to develop next-generation archaeological mapping technology will let a Vanderbilt-led research team reveal information about the ancient civilizations of the central Andes. Read More

A National Endowment for the Humanities grant awarded to Vanderbilt’s Angela Sutton, assistant dean for graduate education and strategic initiatives in the College of Arts and Science, will help fund the excavation of a historic Nashville neighborhood and a collection of the oral histories of the neighborhood’s descendants. Read More

Vanderbilt archaeologist and historical anthropologist Steve Wernke and postdoctoral fellow Giles Morrow are exploring the remains of a 16th-century church high in the Andes Mountains of Peru, all while giving Vanderbilt students a front-row seat to the research using virtual reality, artificial intelligence and geospatial technologies. Read More

Students and professors from Middle Tennessee State and Vanderbilt universities are working together to uncover new archaeological details about a largely forgotten African American neighborhood that was an important part of Nashville’s post-Civil War history. Read More

Advances in big data technology and digital analytics are transforming the field of archaeology. One such study led by Vanderbilt anthropology professor Steven Wernke has brought a fresh perspective to the forced resettlement of more than a million Indigenous Andeans by Spanish colonizers in the 1570s. Read More

Archaeologist and Egyptologist Sarah Parcak, whose work on using modern satellite imagery to study ancient civilizations has received worldwide acclaim, will speak at Vanderbilt on Sept. 26 as part of a special University Course guest lecture. The free lecture will take place at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Life Center Board of Trust Room. Read More

Maya Krause, a Ph.D. student specializing in bioarchaeology, will spend her summer high in the mountains of Peru searching for ancient human remains after earning National Geographic’s Early Career Grant. Read More

A memorial service at Benton Chapel is planned Feb. 23 for Barbara Tsakirgis, professor of classical studies, emerita, who recently died. Read More

The $150,000 digital extension grant from the American Council of Learned Societies funds the development of a digital platform that promises to greatly expand our understanding of Andean culture. Read More

ILLUSTRATION BY CANDACE ROSE RARDON   About 7,500 years ago a construction project of almost unfathomable scope began taking shape along the Pacific coast of what is today northern Peru. Initially a low-lying ceremonial mound, it would become in 4,000 years’ time a monument of staggering size—100 feet tall,… Read More

Vanderbilt researchers found a place where early Americans paused on their migrations south and "settled in for a good long while," suggesting a slower pace of settlement than originally believed. Read More

Tom Dillehay's discoveries at Monte Verde in southern Chile revolutionized the understanding of how and when the Americas were first peopled. Read More

Findings from archaeologist Tom Dillehay's dig at Huaca Prieta and Paredones include the world's earliest known use of indigo dye. Read More

Five Ph.D. students affiliated with the Department of Anthropology have landed significant grants this year, continuing a long trend of successes for the small department. Read More

Antonio Villaseñor-Marchal, a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Anthropology, has won this year’s Native American Graduate Archaeology Scholarship from the Society of American Archaeology. Read More