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I am an archaeologist, focused on Andean South America. My research explores how the collapse of the Tiwanaku state (ca. AD 1000) impacted local communities in the Moquegua Valley, Peru. I received my PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2011. My doctoral study of burials examined how community members used funerary practices to negotiate identity in the changing socio-political climate. I am now investigating the effect of state collapse on daily life and domestic economies.
I have also conducted ethnographic research in the Andes, most recently in the Field Museum's three year 'Ceramic and Textile Arts of the Descendants of the Incas' during which I worked closely with weavers in two regions of Peru, gathering detailed information on weaving techniques, designs and motifs.
Andean South America, Tiwanaku, mortuary archaeology, identity, political fragmentation
Education
2011: PhD, Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago
2006: MA, Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago
2004: BA Hons (1st) Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Cambridge
Grants & Awards
Major:
2010-2011 Dean’s Scholar Award, University of Illinois at Chicago, $20,000.
2009 National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, $11,450.
2007-2008 IIE Fulbright Scholar to Peru, $10,000.
2007-2008 Women in Science Graduate Fellowship, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, $25,000.
2004-2008 University Fellowship, University of Illinois at Chicago, $36,000.
Minor:
2007 The Provost Award for Graduate Research, UIC, $2,600.
2006 Charles Reed Fund, Department of Anthropology, UIC, $500.
2006 Cultural Collections Internship, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
2005 Cultural Collections Internship, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
2004 Jesus College Scholarship Award, University of Cambridge.
2004 Daniel Prize for Best Undergraduate Thesis (‘The Presentation of Women in Moche Molded Pottery’), Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge.
2003 Summer Study Grant, Jesus College, University of Cambridge.
Publications
In prep. Sharratt, N. , P. R. Williams, M. C. Lozada, and J. Starbird. ‘Late Tiwanaku Mortuary Patterns in the Moquegua Drainage, Peru: Excavations at the Tumilaca la Chimba Cemetery.’ In A. Vranich (ed) Advances in Titicaca Basin Archaeology III. Los Angeles, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.
2011 Sharratt, N. ‘Identity Negotiation during Tiwanaku State Collapse.’ In L. Amundsen-Meyer, N. Engel & S. Pickering (eds) Identity Crisis: Archaeological Perspectives on Social Identity. Proceedings of the 42nd (2010) Annual Chacmool Conference: 167-177. University of Calgary: Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
2010 Sutter, R. and N. Sharratt. ‘Continuity and Transformation during the Terminal Middle Horizon (A.D. 950-1150): A Bioarchaeological Assessment of Tumilaca Origins within the Middle Moquegua Valley, Peru.’ Latin American Antiquity 21(1): 67-86.
2009 Sharratt, N., M. Golitko, P. R. Williams, and L. Dussubieux. ‘Ceramic Production during the Middle Horizon: Wari and Tiwanaku Clay Procurement in the Moquegua Valley, Peru.’ Geoarchaeology 24(6): 792-820.
2009 Chacaltana-Cortez, S. and N. Sharratt. ‘International Collaboration and US Training; Peruvian and British Perspectives.’ SAA Archaeological Record 9(4): 19-20.
Archaeological Fieldwork:
2010 Sector Supervisor, Proyecto Arqueológico Cerro Baúl, Perú.
2007 Sector Supervisor, Proyecto Arqueológico Cerro Baúl, Perú (cemetery excavations for doctoral dissertation).
2006 Excavator, Proyecto Arqueológico Cerro Baúl, Perú.
2006 Excavator, Proyecto Arqueológico Unidades Domesticas y Agricolas en las Valles de Chuquibamba, Arequipa y Torata, Moquegua, Perú.
2005 Excavator, Calchaqui Archaeological Project, Argentina.
2003 Excavator, Bir Messaouda Archaeological Project, Tunisia.
2003 Excavator, Cambridge University excavations, Cambridgeshire, England.
1999 Excavator, Oxford Archaeological Unit excavations, Ashford, England.
Archaeological Laboratory Experience:
2008 Analysis of Middle Horizon grave inclusions for doctoral dissertation.
2005/6 Analysis of clay and ceramic samples from the Moquegua Valley, Peru, using Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Mass Spectrometry.
2005 Ceramic analyst, Proyecto Arqueológico Cerro Baúl, Perú.
2003 Ceramic analyst, Taraco Archaeological Project, Bolivia.
Museum and Ethnographic Experience:
2008 Co-curator, temporary exhibit on textiles from Carumas Valley at the Museo Contisuyo, Moquegua, Peru.
2008 Ethnographer, Ceramic and Textile Arts of the Inca Ethnographic Collection Project, Moquegua, Peru.
2007 Co-curator; temporary exhibit on textiles from Cuzco Valley at the Museo Contisuyo, Moquegua, Peru.
2007 Field Director, Ceramic and Textile Arts of the Inca Ethnographic Collection Project, Cuzco, Peru.