Research Team
Over the years, the work of PAHN has been carried out by many students, volunteers, community members, and international researchers. Without the dedication and hard work of these individuals and the support of our host communities we would not be able to study the haciendas of Nasca, nor reveal the day-to-day lives of those who labored at these estates, especially the enslaved African descendants of the colonial era and early republic. We dedicate our work to bringing to light the lives of the ancestors of the modern communities in El Ingenio, Changuillo, and Palpa, through their material culture.
Below are the specialists and experts that head up PAHN’s multidisciplinary lines of research.
Dr. Brendan Weaver
Project Director
Weaver established PAHN in 2009 as a multidisciplinary, community-engaged historical archaeological project aimed at uncovering the daily-lived conditions of labor at the former Jesuit haciendas of Nasca, specifically those of enslaved African descendants. He earned his Ph.D. in 2015 from Vanderbilt University, and is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History at Florida State University. He has held previous positions at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Stanford University, Berea College, and Queen’s University Belfast. Weaver is a broadly trained archaeologist and historical anthropologist with expertise in the study of labor, religion, and colonialism, and the material and visual culture of the African diaspora in the Andes. In his research, he makes use of archaeological, historiographic, and ethnographic methods, bridging disciplinary divides and employing social theory to explore emergent inequalities and subjectivities, sensory experience, and the circulation of people, goods, and aesthetics in the Spanish colonial and early republican Andes.
Lic. Miguel Fhon
Project Co-Director
Fhon Bazán received his undergraduate education in archaeology at the National University of Trujillo, and has completed coursework for the Masters of Archaeology with mention in Andean Studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. He has served as Director of the Archaeological Research Project of the Casa Bodega y Quadra, and as Director of the Museum Project of the Bodega y Quadra Site Museum, both sponsored by the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima and EMILIMA S.A. Currently he is the museum’s director. He has been a scientific advisor for Stoa Andina - Peru. Since 2012, Fhon has served as Co-director or Advisor to PAHN. His research topics involve historical archaeology.
Dr. Lizette Muñoz
Paleoethnobotanical Specialist
Muñoz Rojas earned her Ph.D. in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. Her academic interests lie at the intersection of Anthropology, Archaeology, History, and Botany, as seen through the meals of ancient Andean populations. She has researched on diverse paleoethnobotany projects dealing with Spanish colonialism in Andean region, working both in her home country of Peru and neighboring Bolivia. Currently, Muñoz is a teaching consultant at the University Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, where she cherishes the opportunity to advocate for student-centered instruction.
Lic. Karen Durand
Zooarchaeological Specialist
Durand Caceres is a zooarchaeologist who completed her professional training at the National University of Cuzco of San Antonio Abad. She has worked on various projects for the Peruvian Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Agriculture and irrigation. Currently, Durand is the General Manager of Uywa ZooLab, a laboratory that specializes in the zooarchaeological materials.
Dr. Adam Wiewel
Archaeogeophysical Specialist
Wiewel earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas. He is currently an archaeologist with the Midwest Archaeological Center for the United States National Park Service. His specialties include geophysical application in archaeology, UAS-based remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems, spatial and statistical analysis, as well as the archaeology of the Plains and Midwest of the United States of America. He specializes in historical archaeology and is an important asset to the PAHN research team.
Meghan Cook Weaver
Historic Preservationist and Lab Manager
Weaver completed her undergraduate training in Cultural and Historic Preservation at Salve Regina University, and masters coursework in Anthropology at Western Michigan University. She is currently an historical research assistant for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. Prior to joining the King Papers Project staff in September 2018, she spent decade conducting archaeological and historical research and historic architectural surveys in the private sector. Weaver manages PAHN’s lab protocol and artifact database and assists in architectural preservation planning.
Mag. Lady Santana
Public Archaeology Advisor
Santana Quispe is a native of the District of El Ingenio (Nasca), who received her undergraduate training in archaeology from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. In 2016 she was the recipient of the FONDECYT-PERÚ scholarship for graduate studies in the Peru-France binational program “Masters of South American Archaeology.” She supplemented her training with internships in soil and environment laboratories in Peru and abroad, earning her master’s with a focus in archaeometry from the Université de Rennes 1 in 2018. Her recent work has focus on the geoarchaeology at the site of Samaca in the lower Ica Valley concerning site formation and environmental and landscape change through the analysis of soils and sediments. Additionally, since 2018 Santana has developed work focused on gender (lectures and articles), especially in archaeological praxis. Finally, in each of her projects, she works with communities, especially through informative talks at schools.
Dr. Nicola Sharratt
Archaeo-Chemical Specialist
Sharratt earned her Ph.D. in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2011. An Andeanist archaeologist, she has broad research interests in the collapse of complex societies, archaeology of identity, ceramics, textiles, museum studies, and geo-archaeology. Since 2006, she has directed an archaeological project in the Department of Moquegua, in southern Peru, examining the aftermath of the fragmentation of the Tiwanaku polity around 1000 CE. Sharratt is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Georgia State University.
Mag. Maurizio Lertora Ceruti
Architect
Lertora Ceruti earned his master's in architectural restoration and rehabilitation from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, specializing in research methods in adapting built heritage for new uses. In Lima, he works in the areas of research and enhancement of civil and religious monuments in the city. His commissions include historical studies and the evaluation of buildings for their rehabilitation and restoration.
As an architect and researcher interested heritage conservation issues, Lertora Ceruti holds a particular interest in the cultural landscape of El Ingenio in Nasca, especially in the agrarian history of the valley, its towns and casa haciendas.
Teodosia Chipana & Vicenta Guerra
Project Godmothers
Life-long residents of San Antonio de Llipata in Palpa, Chipana and Guerra have always been fascinated by the history of the region. In 2013 they became the godmothers of PAHN, and have offered crucial logistical and moral support to Dr. Weaver and the entire project. Guerra is an important community outreach liaison, organizing community members in the maintenance of the archaeological sites.