Gabriel Prieto, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
Dr. Prieto joined the faculty at the University of Florida as an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in August 2019. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 2015 from Yale University, specializing in Andean archaeology. The same year, Prieto obtained a Post-doc position at the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo (Trujillo, Peru) as part of a fellowship given by the Peruvian Government. In 2016, Dr. Prieto started the Huanchaco Archaeological Program, which is an ongoing research project. Dr. Prieto became part of the faculty at Universidad Nacional de Trujillo until he came to the University of Florida in August, 2019.
Dr. Prieto’s primary research interest is the study of ancient maritime adaptations in the South Pacific coast, with a focus on the North Coast of Peru. He is also interested to compare and evaluate synchronic and diachronic continuities and discontinuities among the different cultural periods in order to determine how small-scale societies managed to keep the essence of their cultural practices through several millennia until today. Prieto is focused on the trajectory of domestic settlements and mortuary practices which, can inform on how a small fishing community negotiated their existence through time through the present day.
Prieto’s research is also devoted to a long term and multidisciplinary project focused on ritualized human violence in ancient times. At Huanchaco and Huanchaquito, his team has uncovered what is considered the largest ancient child and camelids sacrifice ever found in the world (see below “links of interest”). The exceptional conservation of the human and camelid remains allowed to study the sacrificial event in great detail, as well as explore patterns of health through skeletal analysis, diet through isotopic analysis (both in children and camelids), provenience (aDNA) and the role played by climatic alterations in the North Coast of Peru such as El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This discovery produced a number of questions related to how late Prehispanic sociopolitical organizations reacted during climatic crises such as ENSO events, social organization, population mobility and the manipulation of ritual violence for political, ideological and economic purposes.
Dr. Prieto is the recipient of the 2019 Shanghai Forum Field Award for the research done at the site of Huanchaquito-Las Llamas, possibly the largest child and camelid sacrifice site in the ancient world.
Orcid: 0000-0001-6229-986X
Scopus Author ID: 56954584700
Codigo Renacyt-Peru (CONCYTEC): P0045298
Registro Nacional de Arqueologos Peru (RNA): BP-0621
Colegio de Arqueologos del Peru (COARPE): 040-497
Contact Information
Email: ogabriel.prietob@ufl.edu
Phone: (352) 294-6352 (voicemail not monitored during pandemic)
Office: B350 Turlington
Fall 2020 Office Hours (all office hours are online)
- Monday 2:00 – 4:00 pm
- Tuesday 3:15-5:15 pm
- Wednesday 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
- Thursdays 2:00 – 3:00 pm
- and by appointment
Monday: 2:00-4:00 pm
Tuesday: 3:15-5:15 pm
Wednesday: 11:00-12:00 pm
Thursday: 2:00-3:00 pm
Mailing Address:
Department of Anthropology
University of Florida
P.O. Box 117305
Gainesville, FL 32611-7305
Academic Websites:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gabriel_Prieto4
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=shL5G3EAAAAJ&hl=es
https://florida.academia.edu/GabrielPrieto
Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/ancient.huanchaco/
Educational Contributions for Children:
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-ancient-peruvian-shaman-gabriel-prieto
Links of Interest:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/04/mass-child-human-animal-sacrifice-peru-chimu-science/
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/americas/towns-floating-symbol-fading-into-the-sunset.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrh-Zh4LCzE
https://www.globalxplorer.org/expedition/chapter/1/article/8
https://www.archaeology.org/issues/283-1801/trenches/6186-trenches-peru-huanchaco-cemetery
https://www.archaeology.org/issues/371-2003/features/8422-remembering-the-shark-hunters