Dissertation Defense: Emily Milton

Mon, October 13, 2025 10:00 AM - Mon, October 13, 2025 12:00 PM at McDonel C103

DISSERTATION DEFENSE

Emily Milton

Emily Milton is an ESPP dual major doctoral student, a PhD candidate in Department of Anthropology, researching Andean archaeology and paleoclimatology. She is interested in human management of alpine environments and high-altitude adaptation. Presently, Emily is researching prehistoric seasonality of land tenure in Central Peru and how it relates to human residence in the Andes since the Last Ice Age. Her methods include coupling stable isotopes, microscopy, and GIS to analyze patterns of change in modern and archaeological samples. Emily received a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology and International Studies from Iowa State University in 2015, as well as a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems. After her BS she worked as a staff archaeologist in Golden, Colorado, before returning to school to pursue a Master of Arts in Anthropology. Her work contributes to an interdisciplinary collaboration, directed by her advisor, Dr. Kurt Rademaker, investigating the settlement systems involved in the initial peopling of the Americas.
DISSERTATION TITLE	A MULTI-ISOTOPIC APPROACH TO HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT DYNAMICS IN THE CENTRAL ANDES, PERU
DATE	Monday, October 13, 2025
TIME	10:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT
LOCATION	McDonel C103 and Zoom https://msu.zoom.us/j/98871901289 \| password: coropuna
COMMITTEE MEMBERS	Dr. Madeline Mackie (Co-Chair, Anthropology) Dr. Kurt Rademaker (Co-Chair, Anthropology) Dr. Gabriel Wrobel (Anthropology) Dr. Adam Zwickle (Community Sustainability, ESPP) Dr. Dorothée G. Drucker (Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Germany)

Abstract:

The western Central Andes of South America comprise a mosaic of landscapes shaped by gradients in elevation, latitude, and climate. Archaeological evidence shows that ecological diversity has long sustained human and animal communities, and that interconnected environments have been a defining feature of Andean society from the Pleistocene to the present. Yet this same ecosystem diversity complicates the application of stable isotope analysis to archaeological questions. This dissertation examines the theories, methods, and best practices of isotopic research in archaeological contexts through four case studies from southern Peru. The first article evaluates the use of stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopes to track mobility in western Peru, identifying key limitations and emphasizing the need for alternative tracers. The second develops a deep-time faunal baseline for the high Andes, demonstrating how stable sulfur can more securely distinguish mobility among ecozones. The third analyzes new carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur data from Late Holocene marine birds and maize, exploring how human-introduced marine inputs complicate both paleodietary reconstructions and radiocarbon chronologies. A fourth engages social theory to assess the methodological and ethical significance of environmental baselines for interpreting isotopic data from human remains. Finally, a concluding public-facing article considers the enduring importance of Andean resources for human communities and the climate crisis confronting these landscapes today. Together, these studies advance isotopic approaches in the Central Andes by addressing equifinality, refining baseline datasets, and foregrounding the social and theoretical dimensions of the archaeological sciences.