Mark Aldenderfer
Encyclopedia
Mark S. Aldenderfer is an American anthropologist and archaeologist. He is currently the Dean of the School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts at the University of California, Merced
. He previously served as Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona
, and the University of California, Santa Barbara
. Aldenderfer received his Ph.D. from Penn State University in 1977. He is known in particular for his comparative research into high altitude adaptation, and for contributions to quantitative methods in archaeology. He has also served as editor of several journals in anthropology and archaeology.
through active field projects in southern Peru
. He has directed excavation projects at the sites of Asana, Qillqatani, and Jiskairumoko
, and survey projects in the Osmore valley (Moquegua
, Peru) and in river valleys in the Lake Titicaca Basin. Since 1997 he has also conducted research on Buddhist and pre-Buddhist occupations in the Himalaya through field research in far western Tibet
. He has also done fieldwork in Mesoamerica
, Ethiopia
, and in the United States.
. He previously served as the editor of Latin American Antiquity
and the Society for American Archaeology
Bulletin (now the SAA Archaeological Record).
University of California, Merced
The University of California, Merced, commonly referred to as UC Merced or UCM, is the tenth and newest of the University of California campuses. Located in the San Joaquin Valley in unincorporated Merced County, California, near Merced, UC Merced was the first American research university to...
. He previously served as Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
, and the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
. Aldenderfer received his Ph.D. from Penn State University in 1977. He is known in particular for his comparative research into high altitude adaptation, and for contributions to quantitative methods in archaeology. He has also served as editor of several journals in anthropology and archaeology.
Research Contributions
His research themes include the origins of settled village life, human adaptation to high altitude environments, hunting and gathering, and early plant and animal domestication. Aldenderfer has made important contributions to understanding the Archaic and Formative period peoples of the south-central AndesAndes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
through active field projects in southern Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. He has directed excavation projects at the sites of Asana, Qillqatani, and Jiskairumoko
Jiskairumoko
Jiskairumoko is a pre-Columbian archaeological site south east of Puno, Peru. The site lies at 4,115 meters , in the Aymara community of Jachacachi, adjacent to the Ilave River drainage, of the Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru...
, and survey projects in the Osmore valley (Moquegua
Moquegua
Moquegua is a city in southern Peru, located in the Moquegua Region, of which it is the regional capital. It is also capital of Mariscal Nieto Province and Moquegua District. It is located 1144 kilometers south from the capital city of Lima.-History:...
, Peru) and in river valleys in the Lake Titicaca Basin. Since 1997 he has also conducted research on Buddhist and pre-Buddhist occupations in the Himalaya through field research in far western Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
. He has also done fieldwork in Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, and in the United States.
Editorial Work
Beginning in 2008, Aldenderfer assumed the role of editor for the journal Current AnthropologyCurrent Anthropology
Current Anthropology is a peer-reviewed anthropology academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press and sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Founded in 1959 by the anthropologist Sol Tax...
. He previously served as the editor of Latin American Antiquity
Latin American Antiquity
Latin American Antiquity is a professional journal published by the Society for American Archaeology, the largest organization of professional archaeologists of the Americas in the world...
and the Society for American Archaeology
Society for American Archaeology
The Society for American Archaeology is the largest organization of professional archaeologists of the Americas in the world. The Society was founded in 1934 and today has over 7000 members. The Society holds an annual conference and publishes the flagship journal of American archaeology,...
Bulletin (now the SAA Archaeological Record).
Papers on Tibetan Archeology
- Aldenderfer, M. 2008 On text, materiality, and the Tibetan Buddhist religious architecture at Piyang: 900-1500 CE. In Religion in the Material World, edited by L. Fogelin, pp. 339–358. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
- Aldenderfer, M. 2007 Bringing down the mountain: standing stones on the northern and central Tibetan Plateau, 500 BCE-CE 500. In Cult in Context: Reconsidering Ritual in Archaeology, edited by D. Barraclough and C. Malone, pp. 242–248. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
- Aldenderfer, M. 2007 Modeling the Neolithic on the Tibetan Plateau. In Late Quaternary Climate Change and Human Adaptation in Arid China, edited by D. Madsen, F. Chen, and X. Gao. Developments in Quaternary Science, Vol. 9. pp. 149–161. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
- Aldenderfer, M. 2006 Modeling plateau peoples: The early human use of the world's high plateaux. World Archaeology.38(3): 357-370.
- Aldenderfer, M. 2006 Defining Zhang zhung ethnicity: An archaeological perspective from far western Tibet. In Western Tibet and the Western Himalayas: Essays on History, Literature, Art, and Archaeology. Proceedings of the Tenth IATS, edited by Amy Heller and Giacomella Orofino, pp 1–21. Brill, Leiden.
- Aldenderfer, M. 2005 Caves as sacred places on the Tibetan plateau. Expedition.47(3): 8-13. (Also published in Portuguese in the Journal of the Brazilian Speleological Society, 2006)
- Aldenderfer, M. and H. Moyes 2005 The Valley of the Eagle: Zhang-zhung, Kyunglung, and the pre-Buddhist sites of far western Tibet. Expedition 47(2): 28-34.
- Aldenderfer, M. and Y. Zhang 2004 The prehistory of the Tibetan plateau to the 7th C. AD: Perspectives and research from China and the West since 1950. Journal of World Prehistory 18(1): 1-55.
- Aldenderfer, M. and H. Moyes 2004. Excavations at Dindun, a pre-Buddhist village site in far western Tibet. In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Tibetan Archaeology and Art, edited by Huo Wei and Li Yongxian, pp. 47–69. Center for Tibetan Studies, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Aldenderfer, M. 2003. Moving up in the world. American Scientist 91: 542-549. (also published in French in Spektrum de Wissenschaft, 2004)
- Aldenderfer, M. 2003 Domestic rdo-ring? A new class of standing stone from the Tibetan plateau. Tibet Journal 28 (1&2): 3-20.
- Aldenderfer, M. 2001 Piyang: A 10th/11th C A.D. Tibetan Buddhist temple and monastic complex in far western Tibet. Archaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology of Eurasia. 4(8): 138-146. (also published in Russian).
- Aldenderfer, M. 2001 Roots of Tibetan Buddhism. Archaeology 54(3): 610-12. (Also published in Year of Discovery 2002, Hatherleigh Press, NY)