Dr. Capriles's research is focused on three sets of questions: (1) how did humans adapt to the changing environmental conditions of the South American Andes and Amazonia during the late Pleistocene-early Holocene transition? (2) which specific economic and ecological processes were involved in the development of early camelid pastoralism and other food production economies? and (3) how were the economic and technological organization of subsistence-scale communities impacted by the emergence and expansion of complex polities such as the Tiwanaku and Inca states? To address these problems, he conducts research in Bolivia and Chile and collaborates broadly with international interdisciplinary research teams. He is also engaged in the preservation of cultural heritage through public outreach and the active participation of indigenous and local communities in archaeological research.
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Recent Publications
p3k14c, a synthetic global database of archaeological radiocarbon dates
Bird, D., Miranda, L., Vander Linden, M., Robinson, E., Bocinsky, R. K., Nicholson, C., Capriles, J. M., Finley, J. B., Gayo, E. M., Gil, A., d’Alpoim Guedes, J., Hoggarth, J. A., Kay, A., Loftus, E., Lombardo, U., Mackie, M., Palmisano, A., Solheim, S., Kelly, R. L. & Freeman, J., Dec 2022, In: Scientific Data. 9, 1, 27.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Pre-Columbian cultivation of vegetatively propagated and fruit tree tropical crops in the Atacama Desert
Capriles, J. M., García, M., Valenzuela, D., Domic, A. I., Kistler, L., Rothhammer, F. & Santoro, C. M., Sep 29 2022, In: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 10, 993630.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Reconstructing the sequence of an Inca Period (1470-1532 CE) camelid sacrifice at El Pacífico, Peru
Flores-Blanco, L., Altamirano, A. J., Villacorta, M., Capriles, J. M., Estrada, F., Herrera, K., Llosa, M., Chávez, E. & Alarcón, C., Feb 2022, In: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 41, 103247.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
The Rise and Fall of Wiñaymarka: Rethinking Cultural and Environmental Interactions in the Southern Basin of Lake Titicaca
Bruno, M. C., Capriles, J. M., Hastorf, C. A., Fritz, S. C., Weide, D. M., Domic, A. I. & Baker, P. A., Apr 2021, In: Human Ecology. 49, 2, p. 131-145 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Evaluating Dietary Diversity among Andean Central Altiplano Early Camelid Pastoralists Using Stable Isotope Analysis
Capriles, J. M., Miller, M. J., Fox, J. R., Browman, D. L. & Yoder Urista, C., 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Environmental Archaeology.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Pre-Columbian transregional captive rearing of Amazonian parrots in the atacama desert
Capriles, J. M., Santoro, C. M., George, R. J., Bedregal, E. F., Kennett, D. J., Kistler, L. & Rothhammer, F., Apr 13 2021, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 118, 15, e2020020118.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Distribution shifts in habitat suitability and hotspot refugia of Andean tree species from the last glacial maximum to the Anthropocene
Domic, A. I. & Capriles, J. M., 2021, In: Neotropical Biodiversity. 7, 1, p. 297-309 13 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Plant community assembly is predicted by an environmental gradient in high-altitude wetlands in the semiarid western bolivian andes
Domic, A. I., Capriles, J. M., Meneses, R. I. & Pacheco, P., 2021, In: Mires and Peat. 27, p. 1-12 12 p., 1.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Correction to: Landscape Engineering Impacts the Long-Term Stability of Agricultural Populations (Human Ecology, (2021), 49, 4, (369-382), 10.1007/s10745-021-00242-z)
Freeman, J., Anderies, J. M., Beckman, N. G., Robinson, E., Baggio, J. A., Bird, D., Nicholson, C., Finley, J. B., Capriles, J. M., Gil, A. F., Byers, D., Gayo, E. & Latorre, C., Aug 2021, In: Human Ecology. 49, 4, p. 383 1 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review
Landscape Engineering Impacts the Long-Term Stability of Agricultural Populations
Freeman, J., Anderies, J. M., Beckman, N. G., Robinson, E., Baggio, J. A., Bird, D., Nicholson, C., Finley, J. B., Capriles, J. M., Gil, A. F., Byers, D., Gayo, E. & Latorre, C., Aug 2021, In: Human Ecology. 49, 4, p. 369-382 14 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Cosmogenic in situ 14C-10Be reveals abrupt Late Holocene soil loss in the Andean Altiplano
Hippe, K., Jansen, J. D., Skov, D. S., Lupker, M., Ivy-Ochs, S., Kober, F., Zeilinger, G., Capriles, J. M., Christl, M., Maden, C., Vockenhuber, C. & Egholm, D. L., Dec 1 2021, In: Nature communications. 12, 1, 2546.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Paleoethnobotanical evidence points to agricultural mutualism among early camelid pastoralists of the Andean central Altiplano
Langlie, B. A. S. & Capriles, J. M., Jul 2021, In: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 13, 7, 107.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Quinoa, potatoes, and llamas fueled emergent social complexity in the Lake Titicaca basin of the Andes
Miller, M. J., Kendall, I., Capriles, J. M., Bruno, M. C., Evershed, R. P. & Hastorf, C. A., Dec 7 2021, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 118, 49, e2113395118.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
End-to-end Bayesian analysis for summarizing sets of radiocarbon dates
Price, M. H., Capriles, J. M., Hoggarth, J. A., Bocinsky, R. K., Ebert, C. E. & Jones, J. H., Nov 2021, In: Journal of Archaeological Science. 135, 105473.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
The context and meaning of an intact Inca underwater offering from Lake Titicaca
Delaere, C. & Capriles, J. M., Aug 4 2020, In: Antiquity. 94, 376, p. 1030-1041 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review