Exploring Socio-Ecological Dynamics Over Time
Understanding the dynamics of socio-ecological systems is essential for explaining evolutionary, ecological, and historical processes. Our scientific team engages in the study of human behavior, adaptation, and transformation of its environment over time by relying on the material remains left by people and recovered by archaeologists and other paleoscientists. Our Environmental Archaeology Lab aims to test hypotheses, construct explanatory models, and provide case-studies about the changing nature of human-environment interactions over many spatiotemporal scales. Most of our research focuses on Precolumbian South America, but we are interested in general and comparative case-studies. Our work is an interdisciplinary and international effort involving a wide group of collaborators.
The Capriles Environmental Archaeology Lab is out of the Penn State Department of Anthropology.
In the News
Mummified Parrots Reveal ‘Sophisticated’ Trade in Ancient South American Desert. NPR All Things Considered
Mummified Parrots Point to Trade in the Ancient Atacama Desert, Penn State News
Ancient Shell Llama Offering Found in Lake Titicaca, Penn State News
Amazonian Crops Domesticated 10,000 Years Ago, Penn State News
Ancient Ritual Bundle Contained Multiple Psychotropic Plants, Penn State News
Human Settlements in Amazonia Much Older than Previously Thought, Penn State News
Rise of Religion Pre-dates Incas at Lake Titicaca, Penn State News