Welcome to my Home Page...
I am an anthropologist who studies how and why societies change and evolve. I do this by reconstructing the organization of prehistoric societies to see how they arranged their economic, political, and religious institutions. My current research compares the roles that religion played in different populations to get a better sense of which facets of religious behavior are universal to all humans, and which result from the specific needs of each society.
I'm currently the Associate Director of the Center for Comparative Archaeology of the University of Pittsburgh.
Should you have any questions regarding my research, publications, or teaching please don't hesitate to contact me.
My research interests include:
- Evolution of religious, political and economic institutions
- Comparative study of pre-Columbian societies with focus on the Andes, coastal South America, and the Intermediate Area
- Regional settlement patterns and demographic reconstructions
- Multivariate statistical analyses
- GIS and spatial analyses