Daiana Rivas-Tello

Daiana Rivas-Tello received her B.A. in archaeology and Latin American Studies from the University of Toronto, and her M.A. in anthropology from McMaster University, before pursuing her Ph.D. in anthropology at Brown University. Supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, her research explores the intersection of imperialism, craft production, placemaking, and Indigenous persistence in the Andes. Working collaboratively with potters from Huancas (Amazonas, Peru), Rivas-Tello traces the history of their pottery tradition from the Late Horizon period (ca. 1470–1535 CE) into the present. Before joining Hamilton, she was a lecturer at Brown University's Center for Latin American Studies and a Junior Fellow in Pre-Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks. 

Recent Courses Taught

Principles of Archaeology
Archaeology of Food
 

Research Interests

Landscape archaeology, Latin American studies, ceramic analysis, colonialism and imperialism, displacement, cultural heritage

Distinctions

• Dumbarton Oaks, Pre-Columbian Studies Junior Fellowship (2025)
• John Carter Brown Library of the Early Americas, J. M. Stuart Graduate Fellowship (2025, declined)
• Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant (2022)
• Global Mobility Research Fellowship (2021)
• Social Science and Humanities Research Council Canadian Graduate Scholarship (2015)

Selected Publications

• Rivas-Tello, Daiana. "Becoming 'Local': Pottery Production and Placemaking in the Mitmaq community of Huancas (Amazonas, Peru)." Latin American Antiquity (Under Review)
• Rivas-Tello, Daiana. "Ceramic Pastes and Skilled Practices at Khonkho Wankane." In Incipient Andean Urbanism: Khonkho Wankane in the Bolivian Altiplano (Under Review)

Professional Affiliations

Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA—Early Career)
Society of American Archaeology
American Anthropological Association

Appointed to the Faculty

Educational Background

Ph.D., Brown University
M.A., McMaster University
B.A., University of Toronto