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Alex Chepstow-Lusty
Alex Chepstow-LustyCentre de Bio-Archéologie et d'Ecologie (UMR 5059—CNRS/UM2/EPHE) Université de Montpellier II Phone: +33 467595586 Fax: +33 467543537 E-mail: alexchepstow@gmail.com and Department of Geography Fax +44 1223 333392 |
Freelance palynologist
Research Interests
- Integration of palaeoecological and archaeological records, particularly in Europe and South America.
- Using pollen and other paleoenvironmental indicators as tools for conservation and land restoration today.
- Origins of agriculture, domestication and cultural changes in relation to climatic variation.
- Comparison of Inca and Spanish impact on the Andean landscape.
- Developing an environmental and cultural chronology for the Cuzco area, Peru.
- Analyses of pollen from Inca mummies
Ongoing project:
The environmental and cultural history of the Cuzco area, with an emphasis on the last 5000 years.
We have a series of lake sediment cores collected in 1998 (Royal Society Grant) across the Cuzco region (Fig. 1) with Keith Bennett (Uppsala University). Multiproxy high resolution analyses has been carried out at the small lake basin of Marcacocha (Fig. 2) to the northwest of Cuzco and the large lake basin of Lucre (Fig. 3) to the southeast. Both sites are in major archaeological areas. Once this work is complete, the other lake sites indicated will be analysed to obtain a regional overview of environmental and cultural change.
Fig. 1 Sites near Cuzco
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Fig. 2 View off Marcacocha
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In particular, we want to understand:
- The scale of the drought that led to the collapse of the Huari c. AD 1000
- The environmental conditions that allowed the subsequent development of the Inca state and its meteoric expansion from the Colombian border to central Chile between AD 1400-1532.
- How the environment changed after the arrival of the Spanish in 1532, with domesticated animals from the Old World. Is the major demographic collapse of the indigenous population visible in the palaeoecological record?
This work has much relevance for the Cuzco region today, where many marginalized indigenous people live at high altitude. The aim is to show that during the Inca period, the environment was managed in a more sustainable manner to support a larger population and that many of these practices are still relevant today.
Fig. 3 View of Lucre Basin
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Fig. 4 Coworkers
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Main collaborators
- Michael R. Frogley, Centre for Environmental Research,
School of Chemistry, Physics and Environmental Science, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QJ, UK - Melanie Leng, NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory,
Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK. - Brian S. Bauer, Department of Anthropology,
The University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois 60302, USA. - Steve Boreham, Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group
Department of Geography, Downing Place, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK - Karin P. Boessenkool, Dept. of Isotope Geochemistry,
Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Mark B. Bush, Department of Biological Sciences,
Florida Institute of Technology, 150 West University Boulevard, Melbourne, Florida 32901, USA. - Alfredo Tupayachi Herrera, Herbario Vargas,
Universidad Nacional de San Antonio del Cusco, Cusco, Peru. - Koen Sabbe and Mieke Sterken, Lab. Protistology & Aquatic Ecology,
Dept. Biology, University of Gent, Krijgslaan 281 - S8, B-9000 Gent - Belgium
Some relevant publication
- Chepstow-Lusty, A., Frogley, M.R., Bauer, B.S., Leng, M., Cundy, A., Boessenkool, K.P. and Gioda, A. 2007. Evaluating socio-economic change in the Andes using oribatid mite abundances as indicators of domestic animal densities. Journal of Archaeological Science. 34, 1178-1186.
- Chepstow-Lusty, A., Bush, M.B., Frogley, M.R., Baker, P.A., Fritz, S.C. & Aronson, J. 2005. Vegetation and climate change on the Bolivian Altiplano between 108,000 and 18,000 yr ago. Quaternary Research. 63 (1), 90-98.
- Chepstow-Lusty, A., Frogley, M. R. Bauer, B. S., Bush, M. B. and Tupayachi Herrera, A. 2003. A late Holocene record of arid events from the Cuzco region, Peru. Journal of Quaternary Science. 18, 1-12.
- Chepstow-Lusty, A. & Winfield, M. 2002. Los Incas: Lecciones para la conservacion y restauracion de los Andes. Recuadro 10.13, p.311. En: Sarmiento, F. (editor). Las Montanas del Mundo: Una Prioridad Global con Perspectivas Latinoamericanas. Editorial Abyayala, Quito, Ecuador. 669 pp.
- Chepstow-Lusty, A. & Winfield, M. 2000. Agroforestry by the Inca: Lessons from the past. Ambio, 29, 322-328.
- Haberle, S. & Chepstow-Lusty, A. 2000. Can climate shape cultural development? A view through time. Environment and History . 6, 349-369.
- Chepstow-Lusty, A. 1999. Trees, terraces and irrigation: revitalizing the Andean landscape. World Development: Aid and Foreign Direct Investment 1999/2000, 109-110.
- Chepstow-Lusty, A., Bennett, K., Fjeldså, J. , Kendall, A., Galiano, W. & Tupayachi Herrera, A. 1998. Tracing 4000 years of environmental history in the Cuzco area, Peru, from the pollen record. Mountain Research and Development. 18, 159-172.
- Chepstow-Lusty, A., Bennett, K., Fjeldså, J. , Kendall, A., Galiano, W. & Tupayachi Herrera, A. 1997. When two worlds collide: comparing human impact on fragile ecosystems before and after the Inca. Tawantinsuyu 3, 127-134.
- Chepstow-Lusty, A., Bennett, K., Switsur, V. & Kendall, A. 1996. 4000 years of human impact and vegetation change in the central Peruvian Andes- with events parallelling the Maya record? Antiquity , 70 , 824-833.