News

Exploring Farming, Foraging, and Daily Life in the Moche World

Analysis of data from recent excavations reveals how shifts in ancient agricultural strategies influenced the development of political complexity in the Moche world.

Lecture by Dana Bardolph, Ph.D. Candidate, UCSB Department of Anthropology

Sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Archaeological Society

Exploring Farming, Foraging, and Daily Life in the Moche World

Analysis of data from recent excavations reveals how shifts in ancient agricultural strategies influenced the development of political complexity in the Moche world.

Lecture by Dana Bardolph, Ph.D. Candidate, UCSB Department of Anthropology

Sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Archaeological Society

Graduate Student Jonathan Malindine in Current

A UCSB scholar examines the evolution of wooden halibut hooks carved by native people of the Northwest Coast...

Professor Lynn Gamble Receives Award

Congratulations to Professor Lynn Gamble on her recent book award for her edited book, First Coastal Californians, published by School for Advanced Research (SAR). Lynn's book won first place in the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards for Anthropology/Archaeology in 2016.

This book will also be on display and for sale at next week's World Anthropology Day Open House Event, so make sure to take a look!

Grad Preview Weekend

Stay tuned for more info.

Anthropology Grad Slam

Students are competing in the Department-level event that can feed into the UCSB campus Grad Slam and then the UC-level Grad Slam.

Students are giving 3 minute research talks, and are judged by 3 faculty members on a variety of criteria.

1st place gets $100
2nd/3rd place gets $50 each

Graduate Colloquium

Coping with Conflict: Defensive Strategies and Chronic Warfare in the Prehispanic Nasca Region

WESTON McCOOL, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Warfare was a prevalent and significant practice throughout the Andes during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1450). A salient research topic within broader investigations of conflict is how populations cope with chronic warfare. This presented research utilizes statistical and geospatial analyses of architectural features and settlement patterns to reconstruct defensive coping mechanisms among fifteen fortified settlements in the southern valleys of Nasca, Peru.

Specifically, this research evaluates how populations deployed artificial defenses (fortifications), natural defensibility, and settlement placement to best protect themselves and critical resources from enemy incursions. Results demonstrate that slope was the most significant factor guiding the construction of intra-site fortifications. Patterns in inter-site fortification were primarily driven by population size, whereby the smallest and most vulnerable settlements are the most heavily fortified and occupy the least accessible areas. Settlement patterns were largely driven by natural defensibility, large viewsheds, and proximity to economic resources. This research demonstrates that LIP populations made optimal trade-offs between competing defensive variables, revealing highly patterned regional defensive strategies.

Anthropology-Themed Art Recognized in The Current

7 artists have been recognized in The Current for their anthropology-themed pieces in the Anthropology hallways.

Featured Events

All News

Exploring Farming, Foraging, and Daily Life in the Moche World

Exploring Farming, Foraging, and Daily Life in the Moche World

Graduate Student Jonathan Malindine in Current

Professor Lynn Gamble Receives Award

Grad Preview Weekend

Anthropology Grad Slam

Graduate Colloquium

Anthropology-Themed Art Recognized in The Current

Connect

Links and Resources