David Chicoine
W. G. Haag Professor of Archaeology
Education
Ph.D. University of East Anglia, 2007
M.Sc. Université de Montréal, 2003
B.Sc. Université de Montréal, 2000
Research
Dr. Chicoine is an anthropological archaeologist who studies ancient Andean societies. His field research focuses on the north coast of Peru and he currently directs excavations at Cerro San Isidro in the Nepeña Valley. The excavation project is part of a broader program in collaboration with Dr. George F. Lau (University of East Anglia) that investigates the . Find out more about Dr. Chicoine's research on his .
Recent Publications
Chicoine, D. & M. Helmer. 2025. Real, Imagined, Vibrant: Ruins-as-Cemeteries in Ancient Coastal Peru. In Space and Communal Agency in Pre-Modern Societies, edited by J. C. Moreno GarcĂa, pp. 185-209. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Lau, G. F. & D. Chicoine. 2025. Crowning Affairs: Sacred Sovereigns in the Pre-Columbian World. World Art 15 (Special issue “Sacred Sovereigns: Art, Divinity, Rulership in the Ancient Americas”).
Golay Lausanne, K., D. Chicoine, J. Navarro & G. F. Lau. 2024. Aerial, Surface, and Subsurface Multimodal Mapping in Coastal Peru: Insights from Cerro San Isidro, Moro Region, Nepeña Valley. Advances in Archaeological Practice 12 (2): 143-155.
Chicoine, D. & M. Helmer. 2024. Spatial Clustering, Focal Nodes and Neighborhood Organization in Early Horizon Peru: Comparative Perspectives from Caylán and Samanco, Nepeña Valley. In Neighborhood and District Integration in the Andes and Mesoamerica, edited by G. Cervantes & J. Walden, pp. 171-192. Center for Comparative Archaeology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.
Chicoine, D., H. Ikehara & K. Shibata. 2023. Beyond ChavĂn: The Millennium BC in the Nepeña Valley. In Reconsidering the ChavĂn Phenomenon in the Twenty-First Century, edited by R. L. Burger & J. Nesbitt, pp. 207-236. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Chicoine, D. & J. Warner. 2022. Gathering Salinar Houses: Platforms-as-Assemblages in Ancient Coastal Peru. In From House Societies to States: Early Political Organization, from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, edited by J. C. Moreno GarcĂa, pp. 195-217. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Chicoine, D., B. Clement, & L. S. Cummings. 2022. Plants and Diets in Early Horizon Coastal Peru: Macrofloral Remains from Rehydrated Fecal Samples at Caylán. Andean Past 13: 445-455.
Chicoine, D., V. Vásquez, & T. Rosales. 2022. Taxonomic Analyses of the Vertebrate Faunal Remains at Caylán, Peru. Andean Past 13: 456-462.
Chicoine, D. 2022. Enchantment in Ancient Peru: Salinar Period Murals and Architecture. World Art 12 (1): 67-94.
Courses Taught
Mortuary Practices in the Andes
Field Methods in Archaeology
World Archaeology
Method and Theory in Archaeology
Archaeology of Foodways
Ancient Civilizations of South America
Ritual: Theory, Context and Performance
Introduction to Graduate Studies
Dr. Chicoine is not accepting new graduate students for Fall 2025.
Current Graduate Students
(PhD 2024-present)
"Archaeology of Nsakye, Eastern Ghana"
Janique Gray (MA, 2024-present)
Topic to be determined
(MA, 2024-present)
"Archaeology of the Louisiana Seminary of Learning and Military Academy (1860-1869)"
Joseph Petersen (MA, 2024-present)
Topic to be determined
Evan Wedgeworth (MA, 2024-present)
Topic to be determined
Walker Weindorf (MA, 2024-present)
Topic to be determined
(PhD, 2023-present)
"Variations in the Treatment of Ancient Human Remains in Peru and the US"
(MA, 2022-present)
"Ancient Andean Biopolitics"
Corey Hoover (PhD, 2021-present) (co-advised with Kristine DeLong)
"Human-Camelid Relations in the Ancient Andes"
(MA, 2021-present)
"Ancient Mortuary Patterns at Cerro San Isidro, Peru"
(PhD, 2020-present)
"Osteon Analysis and Health Status at the Maya Colonial Site of Tipu, Belize"
(PhD, 2018-present)
“Spatial Paleopathological Study of Nonspecific Stress in Ancient Americas”
Past Graduate Students
(PhD, 2024)
"What Macrofloral and Faunal are Cooking? A Synthesis of Early Horizon Foodways in
the Nepeña Valley, Peru"
(MA, 2024)
"If Threads Could Talk: Listening to Andean Textiles at the Louisianan State University
Museum of Art"
(MA, 2024)
"The Ancient Occupation of the East Terrace at Cerro San Isidro, Moro District, Nepeña
Valley, Peru"
(MA, 2023)
“Becoming Avian: Amazonian Featherworks from the John P. O’Neill Collection”
(MA, 2021)
“What the Shell? The Zooarchaeology of Cerro San Isidro, Peru”
(PhD, 2021)
“The Ancient Occupation of NivĂn, Casma, Peru: Co-Creating Heritage in Andean Archaeology”
(PhD, 2021) (co-advised with Kristine DeLong)
“Reconstructing the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in Northern Peru: Perspectives
from Donax Obesulus Geochemistry and Archaeomalacology”
Kaitlyn Lowrance (MA, 2021)
“Ancient Pottery Making at Cerro San Isidro, Nepeña Valley, Peru”
Audrey DeLuca (MA, 2020)
“Moche Juvenile Burial Patterns”
(PhD, 2018)
“Landscapes of Persistence and Ritual Architecture at the Cosma Complex, Upper Nepeña
Valley, Peru”
(MA, 2017)
“Pots, Pans, and Politics: Feasting in Early Horizon Nepeña, Peru”
(MA, 2016)
“Ceramic Technology, Production, and Exchange as Seen Through Macroscopic Analysis
of Pottery Fragments from the Early Horizon Center Caylán, Nepeña Valley, Peru”
(MA, 2015)
“Mortuary Practices and Social Identity at the Late Middle Sicán Matrix 101, Lambayeque
Valley, Peru”
(MA, 2015)
“Production, Discard, and Urban Life at the Early Horizon Center of Caylán, Coastal
Peru”
(MA, 2015)
“Early Horizon Community Organization and Neighborhoods as Seen Through the Spatial
Analysis of Residential Architecture at the Urban Center of Caylán, Peru”
(MA, 2014)
“Early Horizon Defensive Structures and the Role of Warfare in the Lower Nepeña Valley,
Peru”
(MA, 2013)
“Emergent Irrigation Agriculture and Settlement Patterns in the Lower Nepeña Valley,
North-Central Coast of Peru”
(MA, 2012)
“Late Formative Plant Use and Diet at Caylán (Peru) as Seen Through the Analysis of
Macrobotanical Remains and Human Feces”
(MA, 2011)
“Social Life and Ancient Andean Public Landscapes: Actions and Performances as Seen
Through the Use of a First Millennium BCE Plaza at Caylán, Peru”