I specialise in the archaeology of circulation and social interaction in the south-central Andes, with a particular focus in north-western Argentina. I look at ancient regional connections and how these shaped landscapes over the long-term, through the analysis of artefacts and materials traditionally studied separately, such as obsidian and pottery. My research combines technological analysis of stone tools, sourcing studies of raw materials (lithics and clays), and intra-site and regional distributions of artefacts in order to explore the cultural taxonomies that organised and assessed the value of things and materials in the past.

I also undertake interdisciplinary research on indigenous contemporary struggles for recognition in the field of cultural heritage. Combining archaeological, anthropological, social theory and material culture perspectives, this strand of my research explores identities as socio-material networks embedded in particular landscapes with long-term histories.

I am currently the director of the Centre for the Archaeology of the Americas, and a board member in the newly created Community for the Archaeology of the Americas iin the European Association of Archaeologists:

http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/archaeology/research/centres/americas/

https://www.e-a-a.org/EAA/Communities/Community_for_the_Archaeology_of_the_Americas/EAA/Navigation_Communities/Community_for_the_Americas.aspx

Biography:

I obtained my doctoral degree from the Anthropology department at Columbia University, New York in 2006, funded by a Fulbright scholarship, Columbia University, the Gillian Lindt Trust, and Fundación Antorchas. My dissertation “Travelling things and the production of social spaces: An archaeological study of circulation and value in north-western Argentina”, combined archaeological and anthropological approaches and for the understanding of pre-Columbian social landscapes in north-western Argentina during the first millennium AD.

My earlier studies include a Licenciada degree in Anthropological Sciences, specialty Archaeology, at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina (1995), and a Master’s degree at the University of Southampton funded by a Fundación Antorchas-British Council scholarship (1998). Upon completing my Master’s, I was a Research fellow at Argentina’s research council (CONICET), where I undertook comparative analysis of the stone tool assemblages of early sedentary and mobile groups in the valleys and highland areas of north-western Argentina until I started the doctoral programme at Columbia.

Prior to joining the Department of Archaeology at Exeter, I was an Endeavour Award postdoctoral fellow (Australian Department of Education) at the Centre for Trans/forming cultures (University of Technology Sydney), where I undertook comparative studies on cultural heritage in South American and Australia. I was also a visiting lecturer in the Cultural and Social Anthropology department at Stanford University during the Spring term of 2006.

Membership of societies and professional bodies

European Association of Archaeology; Royal Anthropological Insitute; Asociación Arqueólogos Profesionales de la República Argentina (AAPRA); World Archaeological Congress (WAC)

IAOS (International Association of Obsidian Studies)

Research supervision:

I am able to supervise research on archaeological and contemporary material culture studies, South-American archaeology, social theory and archaeology, pottery and lithics sourcing studies, technology, heritage and material culture, past and present cultural and social landscapes.