Ph.D., Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 2005
M.A., Anthropology, University of Chicago, 1998
B.A., Spanish, University of Texas at Austin, 1994
Professional Interests:
My interests broadly relate to the interplay between humans and the environment, primarily conceptualized through historical ecology, subsistence economies, agriculture, and cosmology. My area of specialization is Andean South America with strong secondary interests in Mesoamerica. My research focuses on long-term human-environment dynamics, with a principal interest in agricultural landscape evolution in arid regions. I am particularly interested in assessing the role human groups over the past several thousand years have played in shaping the environmental conditions experienced today. My research follows the perspective of historical ecology, which treats landscapes as physical expressions of long, historical processes of human-environment interactions. For a glimpse of my work along the Peruvian south coast, click here.
Representative Publications:
Zaro, Gregory and B. Houk (2012). The growth and decline of the ancient Maya city of La Milpa, Belize: New data and new perspectives from the southern plazas. Ancient Mesoamerica, 23:143-159.
Houk, Brett A. and Gregory Zaro (2011). Evidence for ritual engineering in the Late/Terminal Classic site plan of La Milpa, Belize. Latin American Antiquity, 22:178-198.
Zaro, Gregory, K.C. Nystrom, A. Umire-Alvarez, A. Bar, and A. Miranda (2010). Tierras Olvidadas: Chiribaya landscape engineering and marginality in southern Peru. Latin American Antiquity 21(4):355-374.
Houk, Brett A. and Gregory Zaro (2010). Architectural history and ritual planning at La Milpa: a reconsideration. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 7:95-102.
Zaro, Gregory, H. Builth, C. Rivera, J. Roldán, and G. Suvires (2008). Landscape evolution and human agency: Archaeological case studies from drylands in western South America and Australia. Chungará, Revista de Antropología Chilena 40, Número Especial: 261-271.
Zaro, Gregory (2007). Diversity specialists: Coastal resource management and historical contingency in the Osmore Desert of southern Peru. Latin American Antiquity 18(2): 161-179.
Zaro, Gregory and Adán Umire-Alvarez (2005). Late Chiribaya agriculture and risk management along the arid Andean coast of southern Peru, A.D. 1200-1400. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 20(7): 717-737.
Zaro, Gregory and Jon C. Lohse (2005). Agricultural rhythms and rituals: Ancient Maya solar observation in hinterland Blue Creek, northwestern Belize. Latin American Antiquity 16(1): 81-98
Contact:
Tel: (207) 581-1857
Fax: (207) 581-1823
Department of Anthropology
University of Maine
5773 S. Stevens Hall
Orono, Maine 04469-5773
A Fulbright Experience in Croatia
I have been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach and conduct research at the University of Zadar, Croatia, during the Spring 2013 semester. My wife Sasha, son Austin, and I will spend a total of seven months in Croatia, five of which will be in the city of Zadar, situated along the Adriatic coast in Northern Dalmatia. This is our opportunity to share our experiences while abroad. Please click here for our blog. Enjoy!
Wildlife Society 2009 'Landscape Division' Photo Contest
"Callejón de Huaylas, Peruvian Andes"
