Dr Luis Flores Blanco
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow
Profile
Biography
Luis Flores-Blanco is a Peruvian archaeologist and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of York. He obtained his PhD from the University of California, Davis, where his research focused on the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to early farming communities in the Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru, between 5000 and 3000 years ago. He also holds a Master's degree in Prehistory from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and studied Archaeology at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru.
His research combines archaeological, isotopic, geochemical, and other scientific approaches to investigate foodways, mobility, social inequality, technological practices, and the development of complex societies in the ancient Andes. He has extensive fieldwork experience across the Andes, particularly in Peru. His current work explores diet and inequality in the Titicaca Basin, with particular interest in changing food practices, the emergence of social differentiation, and the processes through which social and political complexity developed.
Luis has published in international peer-reviewed journals and is committed to collaborative and interdisciplinary research in Andean archaeology and archaeological science.
Research
Overview
Research interests:
Andean archaeology, Complex Hunter-gatherer societies, Foodways and human diet, Social inequality and differentiation, Stable isotope analysis, Quantitative methods, GIS, Archaeometry
Project:
FOODPOWER (Foodways to Power: Diet and Inequality in the Titicaca Basin, South-Central Andes, 3.0–1.0 Kya)
Contact details
Publications
Full publications list
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles (Last 5 Years)
2026
Flores-Blanco, L. (2026). Early Social Complexity Without Institutionalized Hierarchy on the Andean Altiplano, 5300–2800 cal BP. Journal of Archaeological Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-026-09225-4
Flores-Blanco, L., Guengerich, A. Bowen, C., Janusek, J., Williams, R. (2026). Volcanic stone sculptures of were-animals at Tiwanaku: pXRF and statistical analyses suggest regional geochemical provenance of chachapuma statues. Journal of Archaeological Science: Report, vol. 73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105858
2025
Flores-Blanco, L., Hall, M. Hinostroza, L., Eerkens, J., Aldenderfer, M., Haas, R.
Altiplano agricultural origins was a process of economic resilience, not hardship: Isotope chemistry, zooarchaeology, and archaeobotany in the Titicaca Basin, 5.5-3 ka. PLOS One 20(6): e0325626. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325626
Flores-Blanco, L., Aldenderfer, M.
Kaillachuro: Early Monumental Architecture in the Titicaca Basin, 5000-3500 BP. Antiquity. 99(405). https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.40
2024
Cuellar, L., Smallwood, A., Aldenderfer, M., Flores-Blanco, L.
Early Evidence of Atlatl Use in the Titicaca Basin: A Lithic, Microwear, and Typological Analysis. Lithic Technology, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2024.2427447
2023
Flores-Blanco, L., Cuellar, L., Aldenderfer, M., Stanish, C., Haas, R.
Did archery technology precipitate complexity in the Titicaca Basin? A metric analysis of projectile points, 11–1 ka. Quaternary International. November 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2023.10.012
2022
Flores-Blanco, Luis, Altamirano, A., Villacorta, M., Capriles, J.… Alarcon, C.
Reconstructing the sequence of an Inca Period (1470-1532 CE) camelid sacrifice at El Pacifico, Peru. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, vol. 41, February 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103247
Chen, C., Flores-Blanco, L., Haas, R.
Why Did Projectile-Point Size Increase in the Andean Altiplano Archaic? An Experimental Atlatl Analysis. Latin American Antiquity 33(3): 616-631. doi:10.1017/laq.2021.70
BOOK EDITOR
Moyano, R., Leibowicz, I., Iniesta, L., Flores-Blanco, L. (eds.) (2020). Viviendo y experimentando los paisajes en América indígena. Bulletin de IFEA. Tome 49 (3).
Flores-Blanco, Luis (ed.) (2018). Monumentos, Lugares, Ancestros. Paisajes Andinos y Lejanos. Editorial Avqui, Lima.
Flores-Blanco, Luís y Henry Tantaleán (editors) (2012). Arqueología de la Cuenca del Titicaca, Perú. IFEA and Cotsen - UCLA.
External activities
Overview
CARI Researcher, Collasuyo Archaeological Research Institute (CARI), 2025–
Member, Institute of Andean Studies, 2026–
Visiting Scholar, Arizona State University (ASU), 2026–
Member, Society for American Archaeology (SAA), 2007–
Member, Colegio Profesional de Arqueólogos del Perú (COARPE 040675)