Julia Earle
Julia Earle is an archaeologist and anthropologist reconstructing the relationship between interaction networks and the formation of the Inca state by analyzing multi-scalar patterns of ceramic distribution in Cusco, Peru. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation (USA), the National Geographic Society, and the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada, among other institutions.
Bio:
Dr. Julia Earle is an anthropological archaeologist who studies how human societies produce, respond to, and resist systems of inequality. Her primary interest lies in how hierarchical societies, such as states and empires, emerge from relatively egalitarian contexts, and what factors contribute to their eventual instability and dissolution. She uses a multi-scalar approach and innovative methods to address unresolved problems in Andean archaeology, in collaboration with Peruvian and international colleagues. Her long-term goal is to use the knowledge derived from archaeological research to contribute to the development of a more just and equitable society, and to provide benefits to descendants and marginalized communities.
Since 2015, she has participated in archaeological field and laboratory research in Peru. In 2017, she began leading her own field projects in the southern highlands, initially conducting a study of Inca building stone sources near Pampacolca (Arequipa) before focusing her subsequent work on Cusco. Her current research analyzes multiscale ceramic variability to trace interactions between culturally diverse groups in the Cusco region (Peru) before and during the expansion of the Inca Empire. She has been affiliated with CEAC and the University of Warsaw since 2026, through her collaboration with the NCN OPUS-funded project “The Origins of the Inca Capital,” led by Dr. Alexei Vranich.
What events, behaviors, activities, and processes created the conditions for one group (the Incas) to dominate the region? To address this question, Dr. Earle focuses on the role of non-Inca ethnic groups, who contributed to or resisted Inca hegemony in various ways. She is currently investigating the role of large gatherings that included performances and the consumption of chicha (corn beer) as catalysts for cultural transformation in the context of Inca state formation. Her interests for a future project include population mobility, settlement systems, wealth inequality, exchange networks, and the social position of pastoral groups in late pre-Hispanic Cusco.
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
For her fieldwork, Dr. Earle received funding from the National Science Foundation (USA), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the National Geographic Society, the Society for American Archaeology, the American Philosophical Society, and the Rust Family Foundation, among others. Her research has been published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, Latin American Antiquity, and Ethnoarchaeology on topics such as Inca stone quarrying technology, tombs and funerary practices, and traditional house-building practices. She has also presented papers at numerous conferences and universities in Europe, the USA, and Peru, including meetings of the Society for American Archaeology, the European Association of Archaeologists, and the Institute of Andean Studies.
From 2024 to 2025, Dr. Earle taught archaeology courses as a professor at Central Michigan University. She earned her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin (USA) under the supervision of Drs. R. Alan Covey and Brian S. Bauer. Her doctoral dissertation, titled “The Sacred Valley, Peru (1000-1532 CE): Social Change and Geopolitics during the Formation of the Inca State,” reconstructs diachronic changes in the built environment of the Sacred Valley to analyze the tensions between local settlement and Inca occupation.
At the University of Toronto (Canada), her master's thesis, supervised by Dr. Edward R. Swenson, examined labor performance in monumental construction by comparing the Inca and Tiwanaku contexts. During her master's studies, she received the "Teaching Assistant of the Year" award based on excellent student evaluations. For her bachelor's degree, she conducted an independent study under the supervision of Dr. Justin Jennings, comparing the developmental trajectories of early religious authority at Chavín de Huántar and Tiwanaku.
RESEARCH METHODS
Archaeological survey; Experimental archaeology; Ethnoarchaeology; Collaborative research with communities; GIS; Photogrammetry; Ceramic analysis; Geochemistry (LA-ICP-MS, NAA, pXRF).
EDUCATION
2024 Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin, Dept. of Anthropology Austin, TX
Dissertation: The Sacred Valley, Peru (1000–1532 CE): Social Change and Geopolitics During Inka State Formation
Advisor: R. Alan Covey
2016 MA University of Toronto, Dept. of Anthropology Toronto, ON
Advisor: Edward R. Swenson
2015 BA University of Toronto, School of Arts and Sciences Toronto, ON
Honours with Distinction
Archeology Major with Religious Studies Minor and Near & Middle Eastern Studies Minor
PUBLICATIONS
Earle, Julia E., Dominika Sieczkowska-Jacyna, Stephen Berquist, Maksymilian Jędrzejowski, Sabino Quispe Serrano, Andrzej Rakowski, and Alexei Vranich (In review). Building Saqsaywaman: Absolute Chronology for Monumentality in the Inka Imperial Capital (Cusco, Peru). Antiquity.
Earle, Julia E., R. Alan Covey, E. Williams Franco Chávez, and Alejandro J. Ortiz Luna (Under review). The Art of Parties: Identity in Face-Neck Jars During Inka State Formation (Cusco, Peru). Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-10766777/v1
Earle, Julia E., Dominika Sieczkowska-Jacyna, and Maksymilian Jędrzejowski (Under review). The evolution of imperial architecture and the impact of state formation on settlement continuity: Radiocarbon dates for late pre-Hispanic construction activity in the Sacred Valley (Cusco, Peru). PLOS One.
Ortiz Luna, Alejandro J., and Julia E Earle (2026). The pre-Hispanic face-neck vessels of the Cusco region: Potential and archaeological implications. ISHRA, Journal of the Institute Seminar of Andean Rural History. https://doi.org/10.15381/ishra.n16.32948
Earle, Julia E., Nancy Reyes Sevilla, Francisca Chihui Mendoza, Camilo Huaraca Marca, Nativo Verónica Tillca, and Faustino Tillca Ccaita (2025). How to Build a Drum-Shaped House: A Replicative Experiment in Ancestral Architecture (Cusco, Peru). Ethnoarchaeology 17(2): 167-195. https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2025.2575250.
Earle, Julia E. (2025). Tombs as Evidence of Religious Diversity in the Sacred Valley, Peru (ca. AD 1000–1532). Latin American Antiquity 36(3): 635-657. https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2024.28.
Earle, Julia E., and Jhon P. Cruz Quiñones (2023). Extraction Strategies and Technological Tradition at Late Pre-Hispanic Quarries, Southern Peru (ca. 1000–1532 CE). Journal of Anthropological Archeology 70: 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101498.
Earle, Julia E., and Jhon P. Cruz Quiñones (2022). Construction technology in the Vilcanota valley during the Killke Period (1000–1400 AD). In N. Cisneros del Rio (Ed.), VII Proceedings of the National Congress of Archaeology, (pp. 665–677). Lima, Peru: Ministry of Culture.