简介

Dr. Cook is an archaeologist who received her PhD from the State University of New York at Binghamton and a Bachelor’s degree Cum Laude in Ancient History and Art History from Bard College. She has been Visiting Professor of Anthropology at the National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga, Ayacucho, Peru and a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. In Peru, she received Municipal Honorary Recognition and a Medal for defending and preserving the site of Conchopata in Ayacucho and worked as director of the Lower Ica Valley Archaeological Project and co-director of the Conchopata Archaeological Project. Her research focuses on the emergence of early Andean States and empires (Huari and Tiwanaku in particular) and particularly on material culture, the visual arts, and iconography. Her research has been supported by grant and fellowship awards from the Fulbright Commission for field research, National Endowment for the Humanities, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University, and the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Senior Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at The National Gallery of Art. Her publications include two books: Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru, edited by Elizabeth Benson and Anita Cook (2001) and Wari y Tiwanaku: entre el estilo y la imagen (1994), plus numerous articles. She has been a consultant for national and international museum exhibits, research seminars and sponsored research programs. In addition, she is active in conservation efforts to protect threatened cultural remains in Andean South America and is a founding member of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at CUA.