Sarah M. Rowe, Project Director (sarah.rowe@utrgv.edu)

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. I specialize in anthropological archaeology and cultural heritage studies. My research interests include South American archaeology (specifically Ecuador), critical cultural heritage, and collaborative community research. I specialize in the archaeology of coastal Ecuador, particularly in the ceramic technology of pre-Columbian peoples. My research has spanned the Formative (3800-1400 BC) through the Integration Periods (800-1532 AD). I am interested in the development of social complexity and regional identities on the coast from the introduction of agriculture to Conquest, in both a local perspective and comparatively to the cultural manifestations in the central Andes. I received my PhD from the University of Illinois in 2014.

Guy S. Duke, Co-Director (guy.duke@utrgv.edu)

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. My work investigates past foodways, focusing on the social and political elements of food production and consumption. I received my PhD from the University of Toronto in 2017.

Sara L. Juengst, Co-Director of Bioarchaeology (sjuengst@uncc.edu)

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. I specialize in bioarchaeology and Andean archaeology. My work uses human skeletal remains to investigates people’s identities and social structures in the past. I also work with human remains to evaluate past medical practices (trepanation or skull surgery) and violence levels within past Andean populations. I received my PhD from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2015.

Daniela Balanzátegui, Co-Director of Community Archaeology (daniela.balanzategui@umb.edu)

I am an assistant professor in the area of historical and collaborative archaeology of the African Diaspora in Latin America at UMASS-Boston. My research is mainly focused on Afro Ecuadorian historical strategies to survive slavery, structural racism, and gender discrimination, based on the examination of material culture, ancestral territories, historical narratives, and oral traditions of African-descendant populations. Since 2012, I have developed a community-based archaeological project in collaboration with Afro-Ecuadorian communities from a feminist standing point of view. The project that takes place in the Chota-Mira Valley (Provinces of Carchi-Imbabura) and provides a space for ethical and respectful work in heritage management, public and community archaeology. I received mt doctoral and master's degrees from the Department of Archaeology at Simon Fraser University (Burnaby-Canada).