Associate Professor of Archaeology Dr. Matt Velasco recently published his first book titled "The Mountain Embodied", exploring the social and cultural significance of the historic practice of head shaping in Peru's Colca Valley. Rather than simply categorizing head shaping as an ethnic marker, Velasco explores the relationship between this practice and various social processes, political power structures, and general worldviews.
Velasco's book is featured in a recent New York Times article titled "Was Head Binding an Ancient Way to Get a Leg Up?", which is linked below.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/science/anthropology-head-binding.html
