Biography
Sarah Paterno is a PhD student in anthropology, focusing on Andean archaeology. Her research interests center around diet and subsistence patterns in Andean prehistory. She aims to explore instances of resiliency, against state and environmental pressures, through the lens of paleodiets. Methodologically, she is interested in paleodiet reconstruction using stable isotope analysis and isoscape data. She is also a graduate student fellow in the Mellon Graduate Program in Community-Engaged Scholarship at Tulane. Sarah earned a BA in Anthropology and a BS in Psychology from Penn State University prior to coming to Tulane. At Penn State, she was also trained in stable isotope analysis through their isotope and geochemistry lab. She has worked in Cultural Resource Management throughout Pennsylvania and conducted archaeological excavations in the Taraco Peninsula of Bolivia to investigate subsistence transitions in the Early Formative Period (1500-800 BCE).