Laurie Beckwith

I am an anthropologically trained archaeologist and I have been working on archaeological projects in the Central Andes, in Peru and Ecuador, since 1987. I received a B.Sc. (Hons) in Anthropology and a MA in Art and Archaeology of the Americas from Trent University. I received my Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Calgary where I studied the Late Formative Period Chorrera ceramics from the southwest coast of Ecuador.

My research focuses on the archaeology of Ecuador and I have an interest in the Late Formative Period. I have studied the ceramics from this period, known from the Engoroy and Chorrera cultures, from the southern coast and central highlands of the country. These ceramics are best known from the elaborate and complete zoomorphic and anthropomorphic vessels found in museum collections. Much less is known about them from archaeological contexts. Most recently, I have begun to work with extant museum collections, such as the material excavated in 1919 by Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño near Riobamba in the central highlands of Ecuador that is now housed in the Museo Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño in Quito.