Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
CLACS

Tiffiny Tung – Violence, Food Insecurity, & Body Desecration: A Bioarchaeological & Isotopic Study of Climate Change & Imperial Collapse in the Peruvian Andes

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

4 p.m. – 5 p.m.

McKinney Conference Room

Tiffiny Tung, an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University, will lead a discussion on the bioarchaeological studies of the Peruvian Andes. This event is part of the Pre-Columbian Dialogues Series.

Dr. Tung is a bioarchaeologist who examines mummies and skeletons from archaeological contexts to evaluate the health and disease status of ancient populations from the Peruvian Andes. Her primary research focuses on the 'bioarchaeology of imperialism', which includes the study of paleopathology and violence-related trauma to elucidate the impact of imperialism on community health and lifeways and individual life histories. Her ongoing research in the Peruvian Andes examines how Wari imperial structures (AD 600 – 1000) affected, and were affected by, heartland and hinterland communities, documenting such things as diet and disease, migration patterns, body modification practices, rates of violence, and specific kinds of culturally mediated violence (e.g., warfare, ritual fighting, corporeal punishment, domestic violence).