Seth Price Will Speak to Environmental Dynamics Lecture Series on His Recent Research in Peru Feb. 1

Courtesy of Seth Price

Seth Price

Seth Price is a doctoral candidate in the interdisciplinary Environmental Dynamics Program, recipient of a Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship and a teaching assistantship in sustainability. He has just returned from Peru, where he was conducting dissertation research funded by a Sturgis International Fellowship and a Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research.

The ENDY Lecture Series will host Seth Price at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 1, in Gearhart Hall 017. His lecture is titled Echoes of Then or Symptoms of Now: Raised Field Cultivation in North Coastal Peru. This lecture will be hybrid with face-to-face and virtual options available. Click here to join the meeting.

This research investigates the relationship between sustainable agricultural intensification, settlement dynamics and anthropogenic landscapes in the Casma Valley of north coastal Peru. The primary focus is to assess why Late Chimu (AC 1300-1470) societies in the Casma Valley converted 700 hectares of land into raised agricultural field systems, understand the cultural processes that were key to field operation and determine how this information can contribute to modern sustainable development. Diverse but detailed data on soil composition is used to separate soil conditions that represent ancient human activity from those affected by modern processes, by isolating soil properties likely to have persisted since ancient times. This past to present spectrum is explored to look at modern anthropogenic soils and the long-term repercussions of raised field cultivation. The integration of multi-sensor geophysical methods used here has the potential to advance remote sensing approaches, and a new methodology for low-cost thermal photogrammetry is used to assess soil moisture content and field drainage system operation. Included is a discussion of the Sturgis International Fellowship.

His master's degree was awarded in anthropology at the U of A and his B.A. was conferred in anthropology from Grand Valley State University.

Find out more about the Environmental Dynamics Program, Sustainability Academics and the U of A Graduate School.