Landscape taphonomy in the Bonneville Basin
Integrating archaeological and geomorphic data to improve reconstruction of past population dynamics by accounting for landscape taphonomy. PIs: Daniel Contreras (U Florida), Brian …
Bio
Daniel Contreras is an associate professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida. He is an anthropological archaeologist whose research interests focus on past human-environment interactions over long timescales.
Experience and Education
Associate Professor of Anthropology
2019
present
University of Florida
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
2018
2019
University of Maryland
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
2014
2016
IMBE/GREQAM, Aix-Marseille Université
Humboldt Fellow
2011
2013
CAU Kiel
PhD Anthropological Sciences
2001
2007
Stanford University
MA Latin American Studies
1997
1998
Stanford University
BA Religion; Certificate in Latin American Studies
1992
1996
Amherst College
Research Interests
archaeology of the Central Andes
geospatial archaeology
landscape archaeology
digital archaeology
geoarchaeology
archaeological radiocarbon
📚 My Research
I am an anthropological archaeologist and associate professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida. My research interests focus on past human-environment interactions over long timescales, primarily in the Central Andes.
Projects
Scaling the Central Andes (SCA)
PIs: Daniel Contreras (U Florida), Kurt Wilson (Lawrence U), Nick Gauthier (U Florida), John Krigbaum (U Florida)
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1 min read
Research on the Archaeology of Pastoralism in Tanzania (RAPT)
PIs: Kate Grillo (U Florida), Mary Prendergast (Rice U)
Katherine M. Grillo
The Stelida Naxos Archaeological Project (SNAP)
PI: Tristan Carter (McMaster U)
Tristan Carter
Chicama Environmental Archaeology Project (CHEAP)
PIs: Benjamin R. Vining (U Arkansas), Daniel A. Contreras (U Florida)
Benjamin R. Vining
Programa de Investigación Arqueológica y Conservación Chavín de Huántar (PRIACCH)
PI: John Rick (Stanford University)
John W. Rick
Featured Publications
The Chavín Phenomenon and Its Regional Manifestation
Iconography and material culture associated with the first-millennium BCE ceremonial center of Chavín de Huántar are readily identifiable and widespread in the Central Andes. Their …
Pre-Hispanic Ritual Use of Psychoactive Plants at Chavín de Huántar, Peru
Ritual is broadly accepted as an important locus of social interaction in the pre-Hispanic Central Andes, and research into the development of durable sociopolitical inequality in …
John W. Rick
Leveraging Radiocarbon in the Central Andes: From Chronologies to Research Agendas
Archaeological 14C Assemblages and the Chavín Phenomenon in the Central Andes
Using the Central Andean Chavín Phenomenon as a case study, this paper explores the middle ground between top-down (big data) and bottom-up (Bayesian modeling) approaches to …
Landscape Taphonomy Predictably Complicates Demographic Reconstruction
We illustrate the way in which landscape taphonomy predictably complicates “dates-as-data” approaches, propose and demonstrate a new method of empirically based correction, and …
Correlation Is Not Enough - Building Better Arguments in the Archaeology of Human-Environment Interactions
The impacts of climate change on human societies, and the roles those societies themselves play in altering their environments, appear in headlines more and more as concern over …
Publications
(2025).
Climate stability and low population pressure predict peaceful interactions over 10,000 years of Central Andean history.
Science Advances.
(2025).
Middle Paleolithic Behavioral Insights from the Stelida Chert Source, Naxos (Greece).
Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies.
(2024).
Chronological and Post-Depositional Insights from Single-Grain IRSL Dating of a Palaeolithic Sequence at Stelida, Naxos (Greece).
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
(2024).
Reconsidering Chronologies and Cultural Change on the South Coast of Peru: A Compilation and Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates from Nasca, Ica, and Paracas.
Quaternary International.
(2023).
Cappadocian Obsidian Exchange Networks in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A: A Southern Levantine Perspective from El-Hemmeh (Jordan).
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
Contact
Email: daniel.contreras@ufl.edu
Phone: +1 352 294 6880
Office: B346 Turlington Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32605
(Looking for B346? Wander the basement of Turlington Hall and hope for the best.)
Office Hours: Wednesday 13:00–15:00, and by appointment