Dr Manuel Arroyo-Kalin

Academic position: Associate Professor of Geoarchaeology and Historical Ecology

Department: Institute of Archaeology

Email: m.arroyo-kalin@ucl.ac.uk

Biography:

I am interested in Human Niche Construction and Historical Ecology in the deep past. My methodological specialism is in geoarchaeology: I use earth science methods to study past anthropic landscape modification, especially anthropogenic soils.  My main focus is the pre-Columbian history of tropical lowland South America, especially the Amazon basin, where I am engaged in a) the long-term comparative study of Amazonian Dark Earths,  b) studies of palaeodemography based on the aggregate analysis of large datasets of archaeological evidence; and c) exploring intersections between scholarly and indigenous approaches to history, memory and landscape (through the Programme of Intercultural Archaeology of the Northwest Amazon - PARINÃ). I am currently co-coordinator of the Institute of Archaeology’s Anthropocene Research Network.