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Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Early Human Settlement Of The High-Altitude Pucuncho Basin, Southern Peruvian Andes, Daniel H. Sandweiss, Kurt Rademaker

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Under the direction of Dr. Daniel Sandweiss, Mr. Kurt Rademaker will collect data for his doctoral dissertation research. His project focuses on determining the timing of early human occupation in the Andes Mountains. Human settlement of Earth's high-altitude mountains and plateaus is among the most recent of our species' bio-geographic expansions. Current anthropological models emphasize the physiographic and biological challenges inherent to these extreme environments to explain a lack of pre-11,000 year-old archaeological evidence above 3500 m elevation in the Andes and on the high Tibetan Plateau. However few archaeological studies targeting hunter-gatherer sites have been conducted in these areas. …