C • I • P • S
California Institute for Peruvian Studies
                                                                                                                                         

THE PROJECT: Between 1998 and 2008, the Metropolitan State College of Denver (MSCD) and the California Institute for Peruvian Studies (CIPS) sponsored a summer Field Expedition to Northern Peru for work at the Santa Rita B archaeological site. The project was structured as a field school in archaeology and biological anthropology.

THE SITE: The Santa Rita B Archaeological Site is located in northern coastal Peru in the Chao River Valley, about 25km inland and at an elevation of 360m above mean sea level. Occupations range from approximately 1000B.C. through the 16th century A.D.

In 2008, the focus was on investigating a part of the site with occupation dating to the Middle Horizon (A.D. 700 - 1000).  Materials associated with this portion of the site are very similar to those produced elsewhere in Northern Peru and may represent an intrusion by foreign peoples.  The relationships between these newcomers and the local residents of the site was a major focus of the work during the project's final season. 

CONTACT: For any additional information, contact Dr. Jonathan D. Kent, Campus Box 28, Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, CO 80217-3362.
Telephone: (303) 556-2933; Fax: (303) 556-5360; e-mail: kentj@mscd.edu.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Michael Moseley, The Incas and their Ancestors. New York, 1992.

Garth Bawden, The Moche. Malden, Mass, 1999.

Helaine Silverman, Andean Archaeology. Malden, Mass, 2004.

Richard Burger, Chavin and the Origins of Andean Civilization. New York, 1995.

Project Photos

JONATHAN KENT Jonathan Kent received his MA in Anthropology from Case Western Reserve University and his doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis in 1982. His research has focused on the exploitation and domestication of Andean camelids. He is currently professor of Anthropology at The Metropolitan State College of Denver, where he has taught since 1986. He is also a professor at The Universidad Nacional de Trujillo in Peru. He is currently the co-director of the Proyecto Arqueologico Santa Rita B along with Professor Teresa Rosales-Tham of the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo. The project began in 1998 and is projected to last a minimum of ten years.