-John W. Verano-

I am currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Tulane, where I teach courses in human osteology, paleopathology, forensic anthropology, and South American archaeology. I received my B.A. in anthropology from Stanford University in 1977, and my M.A. (1980) and Ph.D. (1987) from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before joining the faculty of Tulane University in 1994, I spent seven years at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, where I was a postdoctoral fellow, exhibit curator, and Physical Anthropologist in the Repatriation Office. While in Washington I taught courses at the George Washington University, the American University, the Catholic University of America, and the Smithsonian Campus on the Mall. I have also taught osteology and paleopathology courses in Mexico and Peru, where I was a Fulbright Lecturer in 1989 at the Catholic University in Lima and in 1996 at the National University of Trujillo.

I've participated in archaeological projects in Europe, North America and Central America, but since 1983 my research has centered on the physical anthropology and paleopathology of prehistoric Andean populations, with a particular focus on the north coast of Peru. My specific interests include disease in ancient skeletal and mummified remains, trepanation, amputation, and other ancient surgery, and warfare, human sacrifice, and mortuary practices in Andean South America (see Selected Publications).

Since 1995 I have been collaborating with two major Peruvian archaeological projects on the north coast: the El Brujo Archaeological Project and the Huaca de la Luna Archaeological Project, analyzing human skeletal and mummified remains recovered from their excavations as well as assisting in the excavation of burials at both sites. In the summers of 2000 and 2001, I returned to more hands-on fieldwork, directing the excavation of a human sacrificial site at the Huaca de la Luna, with major funding from the National Geographic Society. In the summer of 2002 I returned to several anthropology museums in Lima and Cuzco to continue a long-term data collection project on trepanation in ancient Peru. During the summer of 2003 I began a new research project analyzing the remains of approximately 200 victims of a Late Intermediate Period (c. A.D. 1300) mass execution at Punta Lobos in the Huarmey Valley, in collaboration with the director of the Punta Lobos Project, Lic. Hector Walde.

I anticipate that my field research in Peru will continue for many years, as there is no shortage of material or interesting research questions to pursue. A number of Tulane graduate students (and a few anthropology undergraduate majors as well) have conducted field and laboratory work with me in Peru over the past seven summers, and I anticipate this will continue in future years. Back in New Orleans I also do occasional forensic identifications for local coroners and law enforcement agencies. Although my forensic consulting is secondary to my principal interests in paleopathology and skeletal biology, I offer an undergraduate course and graduate section in forensic anthropology each year (see Courses Taught). Combined with courses in human functional anatomy, modern human variation and paleoanthropology taught by Professor Trenton Holliday, and courses in primatology taught by Professor Katharine Jack, students receive broad exposure to the major sub-fields of biological anthropology in the undergraduate major and Ph.D. program at Tulane.