Rachel Johnson

Kalbfleisch Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Anthropology

Email:
[email protected]
Download Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • May 2026   Ph.D. Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
  • December 2018   M.A. Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
  • August 2016   B.S. Geology, Minor: Chemistry, B.A. Anthropology, Concentration: Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Research Interests

Archaeometry; Ceramic Technology and Craft Production; Mining and Provenance; Early Complex Societies; Andes and the Upper Amazon; Museum and Legacy Collections Research

Research Summary:

I am an anthropological archaeologist specializing in the Andes, the Upper Amazon, and archaeometric ceramic analyses.

At the broadest levels, my research contributes to deep-time perspectives on the historical trajectory of the development of human societies in the Andean region and the intersectional relationships between craft production, social identity, and economic organization. Through a combination of ceramic analysis, ceramic thin-section petrography, and portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), my work aims to identify shared technological practice to examine the social and economic processes involved in the development and evolution of complex societies. While my previous research has primarily emphasized eastern highland Ancash, I am broadly interested in the evolving socioeconomic relationships between highland and lowland regions of Peru. 

My current research, supported through the Richard Guilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, examines the social and economic processes underpinning the spread of the Chavín Horizon in the highland and coastal Andes through a technological approach to the production of ceramic styles broadly related to Chavín social and ritual practices. 

In addition to the American Museum of Natural History, my research has been generously supported the Rust Family Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology (UC Berkeley) and through collaboration with numerous on-going archaeological projects. I have conducted archaeological field work, laboratory analyses, and collections-based research in Peru, Ecuador, Louisiana, and New York State.

Publications

Rachel Johnson, Jason Nesbitt, MinJoo Choi, Julia Sjödahl, and Bebel Ibarra Asencios
2026    Continuity and Change in Ceramic Production Practices in Conchucos: New Data from Reparin (650/600 BCE - 200 CE), Ancash, Peru. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 70 (105616). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105615

Rachel Johnson, Jason Nesbitt, Julia Sjödahl, MinJoo Choi, and Bebel Ibarra Asencios
2025    Ceramic Production and Exchange in the Chavín Heartland: An Archaeometric Study from Canchas Uckro (1100-800 BCE), Ancash, Peru. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 17(238). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-025-02333-0

Jason Nesbitt, Rachel Johnson, and Bebel Ibarra Asencios
2021    Connections Between the Chavín Heartland and the Upper Amazon (1100-850 BC): New Perspectives from Canchas Uckro. In The Archaeology of the Upper Amazon: Complexity and Interaction in the Andean Tropical Forest, edited by R. Clasby and J. Nesbitt. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

Jason Nesbitt, Rachel Johnson, and Rachel A. Horowitz
2019    Was Obsidian used for Camelid Shearing in Ancient Peru? An Experimental and Usewear Study. Ethnoarchaeology, 11 (1): 80-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2019.1573286