Bioarchaeology of Andean South America: Past Contributions and Current Research

In recent years bioarchaeology has become a rapidly growing and increasingly diverse research area in South America in general, and in the Andean Area in particular. Bioarchaeologists are making important contributions to issues such as the peopling of South America, interactions between populations of the coast, highlands, and tropical forest, the possible health impacts of increasing social complexity and state formation, environmental challenges and human adaptation, evidence of warfare, and other research questions. This research is by definition multidisciplinary, involving collaboration between biological anthropologists, archaeologists, and specialists in genetics, geochemistry and other scientific disciplines. These collaborative research programs are producing important new data on the archaeology and history of human occupation of Andean South America.