Dr Philip Riris
- 01202 965308
- priris at bournemouth dot ac dot uk
- http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4244-7495
- Senior Lecturer in Archaeological/(Paleo) Environmental Modelling
- Christchurch House C134, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
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Biography
I am a Lecturer in Archaeological & Palaeoenvironmental Modelling at the Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions. Previously I held postdoctoral fellowships at the UCL Institute of Archaeology.
I earned my PhD in 2015 from the University of Southampton, focusing on long-term patterns of hunter-gatherer land use in northern Argentina. I specialize in the archaeology and historical ecology of tropical South America, with a focus on quantitative analyses and computational modelling. I have conducted fieldwork in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, and Oman.
My two principal areas of research focus on: 1) coupled human-environmental systems, and 2) computational approaches to rock art and sacred landscapes. I maintain an especial interest in spatial analysis and agent-based modelling, drawing especially on physical geography, quantitative ecology, and complex adaptive systems to understand past human societies. Recently, I have focused on the interface between climate change and ancient demography...
I am fortunate to have a wonderful partner with the patience for my various professional activities across South America, as well as a Bengal cat named Billy.
moreFavourites
- Riris, P. and Arroyo-Kalin, M., 2019. Widespread population decline in South America correlates with mid-Holocene climate change. Sci Rep, 9 (1), 6850.
- Riris, P., 2019. Sparse Radiocarbon Data Confound Culture-Climate Links in Late Pre-Columbian Amazonia. QUATERNARY, 2 (4).
- Riris, P., 2017. On confluence and contestation in the Orinoco interaction sphere: the engraved rock art of the Atures Rapids. ANTIQUITY, 91 (360), 1603-1619.
Journal Articles
- Riris, P., 2024. Monumental snake engravings of the Orinoco River. Antiquity: a quarterly review of archaeology.
- Riris, P., 2024. Frequent disturbances enhanced the resilience of past human populations. Nature.
- Lozada-Mendieta, N., Riris, P. and Oliver, J.R., 2023. Beads and Stamps in the Middle Orinoco: Archaeological Evidence for Interaction and Exchange in the Atures Rapids from AD 1000 to 1480. Latin American Antiquity, 34 (4), 742-763.
- Lombardo, U., Riris, P. et al., 2022. Evidence confirms an anthropic origin of Amazonian Dark Earths. Nature Communications, 13 (1).
- Silva, F. et al., 2022. Developing Transdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainability Challenges: The Need to Model Socio-Environmental Systems in the Longue Durée. Sustainability (Switzerland), 14 (16).
- Riris, P. and de Souza, J.G., 2021. Formal Tests for Resistance-Resilience in Archaeological Time Series. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9.
- Riris, P. and Silva, F., 2021. Resolution and the detection of cultural dispersals: development and application of spatiotemporal methods in Lowland South America. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8 (1).
- Arroyo-Kalin, M. and Riris, P., 2021. Did pre-Columbian populations of the Amazonian biome reach carrying capacity during the Late Holocene?: Amazonian pre-Columbian demography. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 376 (1816).
- French, J.C., Riris, P., Fernandéz-López De Pablo, J., Lozano, S. and Silva, F., 2021. A manifesto for palaeodemography in the twenty-first century: Palaeodemography in the 21st Century. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 376 (1816).
- de Souza, J.G. and Riris, P., 2021. Delayed demographic transition following the adoption of cultivated plants in the eastern La Plata Basin and Atlantic coast, South America. Journal of Archaeological Science, 125.
- Riris, P., 2020. Spatial structure among the geometric earthworks of western Amazonia (Acre, Brazil). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 59.
- Riris, P. and Arroyo-Kalin, M., 2019. Widespread population decline in South America correlates with mid-Holocene climate change. Sci Rep, 9 (1), 6850.
- Riris, P., 2019. Sparse Radiocarbon Data Confound Culture-Climate Links in Late Pre-Columbian Amazonia. QUATERNARY, 2 (4).
- Riris, P. and Oliver, J., 2019. Patterns of Style, Diversity, and Similarity in Middle Orinoco Rock Art Assemblages. ARTS, 8 (2).
- Riris, P., Oliver, J.R. and Mendieta, N.L., 2018. Missing the point: re-evaluating the earliest lithic technology in the Middle Orinoco. R Soc Open Sci, 5 (6), 180690.
- Riris, P., 2018. Dates as data revisited: A statistical examination of the Peruvian preceramic radiocarbon record. JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 97, 67-76.
- Riris, P., 2018. Assessing the impact and legacy of swidden farming in neotropical interfluvial environments through exploratory modelling of post-contact Piaroa land use (Upper Orinoco, Venezuela). HOLOCENE, 28 (6), 945-954.
- Riris, P., 2017. Towards an artefact's-eye view: Non-site analysis of discard patterns and lithic technology in Neotropical settings with a case from Misiones province, Argentina. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 11, 626-638.
- Riris, P., 2017. On confluence and contestation in the Orinoco interaction sphere: the engraved rock art of the Atures Rapids. ANTIQUITY, 91 (360), 1603-1619.
- Mendieta, N.L., Oliver, J. and Riris, P., 2016. Archaeology in the Atures Rapids of the Middle Orinoco, Venezuela. ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, 19, 73-77.
- Riris, P. and Corteletti, R., 2015. A New Record of Pre-Columbian Engravings in Urubici (SC), Brazil using Polynomial Texture Mapping. Internet Archaeology, 38.
- Riris, P. and Romanowska, I., 2014. A reconstructed reduction sequence for curved bifacial stone tools from the eastern La Plata basin, Argentina. Lithics, 35, 5-17.
Chapters
- Riris, P., 2016. Monumentality and territoriality in intermediate societies: An example from the eastern La Plata basin. In: Goepfert, N., Vasquez, S., Clement, C. and Christol, A., eds. LAS SOCIEDADES ANDINAS FRENTE A LOS CAMBIOS PASADOS Y ACTUALES: Dinámicas territoriales, crisis, fronteras y movilidades. Paris: Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos (IFEA), Laboratoire d'Excellence Dynamiques Territoriales et Spatiales, 287-231.
Grants
- Comparative Legacies of Human Land Use in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Arts and Humanities Research Council, 01 Feb 2023). Awarded
- Connected Communities: Network approaches to rock art in lowland South America (British Academy, 01 Sep 2018). Completed
- Ancient Networks of Art: towards a relational study of pre-Columbian iconography across the Orinoco Interaction Sphere (Sainsburys Research Unit, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, 01 Jan 2017). Completed
External Responsibilities
- UCL Institute of Archaeology, Honorary Research Fellow (2018)
- Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Visiting Collaborator (2015-2017)
- Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano, Foreign Investigator (2013)
Social Media Links
- Twitter, @philriris
Website Links
External Media and Press
- Ancient Climate Linked to Dip in South American Population, Archaeology Magazine, 10 May 2019. https://www.archaeology.org/news/7646-190510-south
- Ancient Climate Change in South America Caused Populations to Plummet as People Couldn’t Adapt, Newsweek, 09 Apr 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/abrupt-climate-change-drove-early-south-american-population-decline-1419013
- See Some of the World's Largest Rock Art—Scanned for the First Time, National Geographic, 07 Dec 2017. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/pre-colombian-rock-art-scanned-venezuela-south-america-spd/
- Aerial Photos Show Ancient Rock Art Found In Venezuela, International Business Times, 07 Dec 2017. https://www.ibtimes.com/aerial-photos-show-ancient-rock-art-found-venezuela-2625298
- Ancient and Enormous South American Rock Art Mapped for First Time Shows Mysterious 100-foot-long Snake, Newsweek, 07 Dec 2017. https://www.newsweek.com/ancient-and-enormous-south-american-rock-art-mapped-first-time-reveals-742351