Dr. Gregory Zaro
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Administration, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Associate Professor of Anthropology and Climate Change
Ph.D., Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 2005
M.A., Anthropology, University of Chicago, 1998
B.A., Spanish, University of Texas at Austin, 1994
Professional Interests:
My interests broadly relate to the interplay between humans and the environment, primarily conceptualized through historical ecology, subsistence economies, agriculture, urbanism, and cosmology. I am particularly interested in assessing the role human groups over the past several thousand years have played in shaping the environmental conditions experienced today. My geographic areas of interest include Andean South America, Mesoamerica, and the eastern Adriatic. I currently co-direct the Nadin-Gradina Archaeological Project (NGAP) near the port city of Zadar, Croatia. The NGAP is a collaborative effort between the University of Maine and University of Zadar. It seeks to articulate ancient, historic, and modern records as they relate to contemporary issues of urbanization, land use, and environmental change.
Representative Publications:
Zaro, G., K. Gusar, and M. Čelhar (2020). On the edge of empires: Exploring an Ottoman legacy on the Venetian frontier. Journal of Field Archaeology DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2019.1706141
Mirosevic, L., G. Zaro, M. Katic, and D. Birt (eds.) (2018). Landscapes of Southeastern Europe. Lit Verlag, Berlin-London_Munster-Wien-Zurich.
Zaro, G. (2018). Concluding thoughts: (Cultural) Landscapes of Southeastern Europe. In Landscapes of Southeastern Europe, by L. Mirosevic, G. Zaro, M. Katic, and D. Birt (eds.), pp. 165-170. Lit Verlag, Berlin-London_Munster-Wien-Zurich.
Zaro, G. and M. Čelhar (2018). Landscape as legacy in northern Dalmatia. In Landscapes of Southeastern Europe, by L. Mirosevic, G. Zaro, M. Katic, and D. Birt (eds.), pp. 49-67. Lit Verlag, Berlin-London_Munster-Wien-Zurich.
Houk, Brett A. and G. Zaro (2015). Lithic production and domestic economy in an ancient Maya neighborhood at Chan Chich, Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 12:127-134.
Herndon, Kelsey E., G. Zaro, B.A. Houk, D. Sandrock, A. Booher, E. Vasquez (2015). Investigating urban form and kingship: Preliminary Results of the 2014 Chan Chich Archaeological Project. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 12:339-346.
Zaro, Gregory (2014). From terraces to trees: Ancient and historical landscape changes in southern Peru. In Landesque Capital: The Historical Ecology of Enduring Landscape Modifications, edited by N. Thomas Håkansson and Mats Widgren, pp. 232-250. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA.
Zaro, Gregory, K. Nystrom, and D. Keefer (2013). Environmental catastrophe and the archaeological record: Complexities of volcanism, floods, and farming in south coastal Peru, A.D. 1200-1700. Andean Past 11:233-262.
Sullivan, Lauren A., Brett A. Houk, Gregory Zaro, and Lindsey R. Moats (2013). Deciphering a Terminal Classic surface artifact deposit at Courtyard 100, La Milpa: The view from the ceramic data. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 10:211–218.
Zaro, Gregory and B. Houk (2012). The growth and decline of the ancient Maya city of La Milpa, Belize: New data and new perspectives from the southern plazas. Ancient Mesoamerica, 23:143-159.
Houk, Brett A. and Gregory Zaro (2011). Evidence for ritual engineering in the Late/Terminal Classic site plan of La Milpa, Belize. Latin American Antiquity, 22:178-198.
Zaro, Gregory, K.C. Nystrom, A. Umire-Alvarez, A. Bar, and A. Miranda (2010). Tierras Olvidadas: Chiribaya landscape engineering and marginality in southern Peru. Latin American Antiquity 21(4):355-374.
Houk, Brett A. and Gregory Zaro (2010). Architectural history and ritual planning at La Milpa: a reconsideration. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 7:95-102.
Zaro, Gregory, H. Builth, C. Rivera, J. Roldán, and G. Suvires (2008). Landscape evolution and human agency: Archaeological case studies from drylands in western South America and Australia. Chungará, Revista de Antropología Chilena 40, Número Especial: 261-271.
Zaro, Gregory (2007). Diversity specialists: Coastal resource management and historical contingency in the Osmore Desert of southern Peru. Latin American Antiquity 18(2): 161-179.
Zaro, Gregory and Adán Umire-Alvarez (2005). Late Chiribaya agriculture and risk management along the arid Andean coast of southern Peru, A.D. 1200-1400. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 20(7): 717-737.
Zaro, Gregory and Jon C. Lohse (2005). Agricultural rhythms and rituals: Ancient Maya solar observation in hinterland Blue Creek, northwestern Belize. Latin American Antiquity 16(1): 81-98
Contact:
Tel: 207.581.1857
Fax: 207.581.1823
Email: gregory.zaro@maine.edu
Department of Anthropology
University of Maine
5773 S. Stevens Hall
Orono, Maine 04469-5773
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