Overview

Jo Osborn (she/her/ella) is an anthropological archaeologist and zooarchaeologist. Her research broadly addresses the relationships between humans, animals, and their environments. She incorporates interdisciplinary methodologies in her work, especially ethnohistoric and Bayesian approaches.

Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Zooarchaeology for the LASTJOURNEY project, led by Prof. José Iriarte. LASTJOURNEY explores Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene human adaptations and impacts across the diverse landscapes of northwest South America.

Previously, Jo directed archaeological excavations on the Peruvian South Coast at the site of Jahuay, a Topará fishing village occupied ca. 200 BC–AD 150. She showed that Jahuay was a highly specialized maritime community engaged in a complementary economic exchange system with neighboring agricultural communities. Her work frames Jahuay’s subsistence practices as cultural and economic responses to environmental uncertainty caused by El Niño cycles.

You can read more about Jo’s work at joosborn.com.

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