Jean-François Millaire

I am an anthropological archaeologist specializing in the Andean region of South America and my primary research interests lie in early complex societies of the north coast of Peru. My fieldwork in the Virú and Moche valleys led to research into statecraft, urbanism, social differentiation, land and animal management strategies, food production and consumption, trade networks, mortuary and sacrificial practices, and ancient textiles. This work was informed by different research methods, including archaeological survey and excavations, settlement patterns analysis, radiocarbon dating, remote sensing work, stable isotope analysis, and the use of historical documents and Geographic Information Systems.

Books

2009    Gallinazo: An Early Cultural Tradition on the Peruvian North Coast. Edited by J.-F. Millaire with M. Morlion. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, University of California, Los Angeles. 

2002    Moche Burial Patterns: An Investigation into Prehispanic Social Structure. BAR International Series 1066, Archaeopress, Oxford.

Papers in Scholarly Journals

2016    J.-F. Millaire, G. Prieto, F. Surette, E. M. Redmond, C. S. Spencer. Statecraft and Expansionary Dynamics: A Virú Outpost at Huaca Prieta, Chicama Valley, Peru. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America (PNAS) 113(41): E6016-E6025. 

2016    L. Hodgetts, J.-F. Millaire, E. Eastaugh, C. Chapdelaine (2016). The Untapped Potential of Magnetic Survey in the Identification of Precontact Archaeological Sites in Wooded Areas. Advances in Archaeological Practice 4(1): 41-54. 

2015    J. Castañeda Murga and J.-F. Millaire. Agua, tierra y recursos: Una historia ambiental del valle de Virú, Ss. XVI-XIX. Perspectivas latinoamericanas 12:50-67. 

2015    P. Szpak, D. Chicoine, J.-F. Millaire, C. D. White, F. J. Longstaffe. Early Horizon Camelid Management Practices in the Nepeña Valley, North-Central Coast of Peru. Environmental Archaeology 21(3):230-245. 

2015    P. Szpak, J.-F. Millaire, C. D. White, G. F. Lau, F. Surette, and F. J. Longstaffe. Origins of Prehispanic Camelid Wool Textiles from the North and Central Coasts of Peru Traced by Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Analysis. Current Anthropology 56(3):449–459. 

2014    J.-F. Millaire and E. Eastaugh.  Geophysical Survey on the Coast of Peru: The Early Prehispanic City of Gallinazo Group in the Virú Valley. Latin American Antiquity 25(3):239–255. 

2014    P. Szpak, J.-F. Millaire, C. D. White, and F. J. Longstaffe.  Small Scale Camelid Husbandry on the North Coast of Peru (Virú Valley): Insight from Stable Isotope Analysis. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 36:110–129. 

2014    P. Szpak, Fred J. Longstaffe, J.-F. Millaire, and C. D. White. Large Variation in Nitrogen Isotopic Composition of a Fertilized Legume. Journal of Archaeological Science 45:72–79. 

2014    J. M. Toyne, C. D. White, J. W. Verano, S. Uceda Castillo, J.-F. Millaire, and F. J. Longstaffe.  Residential Histories of Elites and Sacrificial Victims at Huacas de Moche, Peru, as Reconstructed from Oxygen Isotopes. Journal of Archaeological Science 42:15–28. 

2013    P. Szpak, C. D. White, Fred J. Longstaffe, J.-F. Millaire, and V. F. Vásquez Sánchez.  Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Survey of Northern Peruvian Plants: Baselines for Paleodietary and Paleoecological Studies. PLoS ONE 8(1):e53763. 

2012    P. Szpak, J.-F. Millaire, C. D. White, and F. J. Longstaffe.  Influence of Seabird Guano and Camelid Dung Fertilization on the Nitrogen Isotopic Composition of Field-Grown Maize (Zea mays). Journal of Archaeological Science 39(12):3721–3740. 

2012    P. Szpak, Fred J. Longstaffe, J.-F. Millaire, and C. D. White.  Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry of Seabird Guano Fertilization: Results from Growth Chamber Studies with Maize (Zea mays). PLoS ONE 7(3):e33741. 

2011    J.-F. Millaire and E. Eastaugh.  Ancient Urban Morphology in the Virú Valley, Peru: Remote Sensing Work at the Gallinazo Group Site (100 B.C. – A.D. 700). Journal of Field Archaeology 35(4):289–297. 

2011    J.-F. Millaire and F. Surette. Un fardo funerario procedente de Huaca Santa Clara, valle de Virú (ca. 1150 a. D.). Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines 40(2):289–305. 

2010    Primary State Formation in the Virú Valley, North Coast of Peru. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America (PNAS) 107(14):6186–6191. 

2004    The Manipulation of Human Remains in Moche Society: Delayed Burials, Grave Reopening and Secondary Offerings of Human Bones on the Peruvian North Coast. Latin American Antiquity 15(4):371–388. 

2001    C. Chapdelaine, J.-F. Millaire, and G. Kennedy.  Compositional Analysis and Provenance Study of Spindle Whorls from the Moche Site, North Coast of Peru. Journal of Archaeological Science 28(8):795–806.

Book Chapters

2016    Posts and Pots: Propitiatory Ritual at Huaca Santa Clara in the Virú Valley, Peru. In Reconstructing Ritual Killing on the North Coast of Peru: Diachronic and Multidisciplinary Explorations of Sacrifice, Violence, and Belief, 200 B.C– A.D.1532. Edited by H. D. Klaus and J. M. Toyne. University of Texas Press, Austin. 

2016    P. Szpak, J.-F. Millaire, C. D. White, S. Bourget, and Fred J. Longstaffe. Life Histories of Sacrificed Camelids from Huancaco (Virú Valley). In Reconstructing Ritual Killing on the North Coast of Peru: Diachronic and Multidisciplinary Explorations of Sacrifice, Violence, and Belief, 200 B.C– A.D.1532. Edited by H. D. Klaus and J. M. Toyne. University of Texas Press, Austin. 

2015    J.-F. Millaire. The Sacred Character of Ruins on the Peruvian North Coast. In Living with the Dead in the Andes, 50–75. Edited by J. Fitzsimmons and I. Shimada. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson. 

2015    J.-F. Millaire, E. Eastaugh, and L. M. Hodgetts.  Prospection géophysique au site iroquoien de Mailhot-Curran. In Mailhot-Curran: Un village iroquoien du XVIe siècle, 69–82. Edited by C. Chapdelaine. Collection Paléo-Québec no 35. Recherches Amérindiennes au Québec, Montréal. 

2010    Moche Political Expansionism as Viewed from Virú: Recent Archaeological Work in the Close Periphery of a Hegemonic City-State System. In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, 221–249. Edited by J. Quilter and L. J. Castillo. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. 

2009    Gallinazo and the Tradición Norcosteña. In Gallinazo: An Early Cultural Tradition on the Peruvian North Coast, 1–16. Edited by J.-F. Millaire with M. Morlion. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, University of California, Los Angeles. 

2009    Woven Identities in the Virú Valley. In Gallinazo: An Early Cultural Tradition on the Peruvian North Coast, 149–165. Edited by J.-F. Millaire with M. Morlion. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, University of California, Los Angeles. 

2008    Moche Textile Production on the Peruvian North Coast: A Contextual Analysis. In The Art and Archaeology of the Moche: An Ancient Society of the Peruvian North Coast, 229–245. Edited by S. Bourget and K. L. Jones. University of Texas Press, Austin. 

2007    Les spécialistes du culte funéraire dans la société moche de la côte nord du Pérou. In Les systèmes religieux amérindiens et inuit: Perspectives historiques et contemporaines, 9–33. Edited by C. Gélinas and G. Teasdale. In Situ, Québec. 

2000a  Steve Bourget and J.-F. Millaire.  Excavaciones en la plaza 3ª y plataforma II de la Huaca de la Luna. In Investigaciones Huaca de la Luna 1997, 47–60. Edited by S. Uceda, E. Mujica, and R. Morales, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo. 

2000b  Excavaciones en el cementerio Cerro Blanco (CCB-97), Moche. In Investigaciones Huaca de la Luna 1997, 61–63. Edited by S. Uceda, E. Mujica, and R. Morales, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo.

Courses Taught

• Anthropology 1026 Introduction to Biological Anthropology and Archaeology
• Anthropology 2234 Andean Prehistory
• Anthropology 3303Material Culture
• Anthropology 3308 Archaeology: Theory and Practice
• Anthropology 3320 Archaeological Summer Field School
• Anthropology 3326 Early Civilizations: A Comparative Approach
• Anthropology 9002 GIS in Anthropology
• Anthropology 9100 Theory in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology
• Anthropology 9101 Research Methods in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology
• Anthropology 9103 Advanced Studies in New World Archaeology

Graduate Supervision

I welcome inquiries from graduate students interested in research on early complex societies from the Andean region of South America. Topics can include statecraft, urbanism, social differentiation, trade networks, mortuary and sacrificial practices, ancient ceramics and textiles, settlement pattern analysis, remote sensing, and Geographic Information Systems.