Commencement 2011

Mark Ostow

View full image

O. Gabriel Prieto
Huanchaco, Peru
MS, Anthropology and archeology

What is your field?

I'm in Andean archeologist. I'm working on the north coast of Peru and I'm also working with the Machu Picchu Collection [at Yale's Peabody Museum].

Why did you choose to study at Yale?

Yale has a very long-term tradition in Andean archeology, since the 19th century, so I thought it was the perfect place to do my research—and because the Yale Peabody has so many expeditions in South America. Yale has four projects running right now in Peru and I want to start my own research project there for my dissertation this year.

How did you first get interested in archeology?

I grew up in a very small fishing village in the north coast of Peru, and I was surrounded by archeological sites. So when I was a child, I was running and playing and always finding ceramic fragments and bones and various small stone beads and glass beads, and I started collecting all this stuff. When I was seven years old, I was always telling my mother, "I really want to be an archeologist." So since then, I was very clear about what I wanted to do with my life.