Society of Fellows Postdoctoral Scholar
Website
https://bu.academia.edu/JacobBongers
Areas of Interest
Andean archaeology; GIS, photogrammetry, and geospatial mapping; mortuary practice and imperial conquest; climate and conflict; everyday life; risk management.
Research and Excavation
Jacob Bongers is an anthropological archaeologist with a Ph.D. in archaeology from the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. He employs multidisciplinary methodologies built around archaeological science and digital archaeology to investigate how Indigenous communities confront social and environmental change. His doctoral research examined how groups configured ritualized behaviors to deal with imperial conquest in southern Peru. His current research explores how Indigenous communities in highland and coastal Peru mitigate climatic hazards and conflict in everyday life. Prior to joining BU, Bongers conducted archaeological fieldwork in Portugal, Chile, Ethiopia, Oman, and Peru.
Representative Publications
2023 Bongers, J.L., Muros, V., O’Shea, C., Mejía, J.G., Cooke, C.A., Young, M., Barnard, H. Painting Personhood: Red Pigment Practices in Southern Peru. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 69, 101480.
2022 Lau, G.F., Dávila, M.L., Bongers, J.L., Chicoine, D. The Rise of Native Lordships at Pashash, a.d. 200–600, North Highlands of Ancash, Peru. Journal of Field Archaeology, 1-19.
2022 Bongers, J.L., Mejía, J.G., Harper, T.K., & Seidensticker, S. Assembling the dead: human vertebrae-on-posts in the Chincha Valley, Peru. Antiquity, 1-19.
2020 Bongers, J.L., Nakatsuka, N., O’Shea, C., Harper, T.K., Tantaleán, H., Stanish, C., & Fehren-Schmitz, L. Integration of ancient DNA with transdisciplinary dataset finds strong support for Inca resettlement in the south Peruvian coast. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(31), 18359-18368.
2018 Bongers, J.L., O’Shea, C., & Farahani, A. Communities of weavers: a methodology for analyzing textile and cloth production. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 22, 223–236.
2012 Bongers, J., Arkush, E., & Harrower, M. Landscapes of death: GIS-based analyses of chullpas in the western Lake Titicaca basin. Journal of Archaeological Science, 39(6), 1687-1693.