Dr Jacob Bongers is a digital archaeologist specialised in drone mapping at the University of Sydney. He is the Tom Austen Brown Postdoctoral Research Associate in Archaeology in the School of Humanities and a valued core member of the Vere Gordon Childe Centre (VGCC), a Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences flagship centre devoted to bringing experts from diverse disciplines together to research humanity through time. He is also currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian Museum Research Institute. Dr Bongers previously served as the Andean Archaeology expert for the Australian Museum’s Machu Picchu exhibition.

Professor Kirsten McKenzie, Director of the VGCC, said Dr Bongers’ work exemplifies the Centre’s mission in both its multidisciplinary foundations and its exemplary engagement with community.

“We are all hugely proud of his achievement,” she said. “Monte Sierpe is a high-profile site that attracts a lot of popular commentary online, including misinformation that threatens to overshadow Indigenous knowledge bases and community ownership over history and heritage.

“Dr Bongers’ team brought to light an incredible example of Indigenous accounting and exchange through interdisciplinary research and diverse expertise, highlighting how cutting-edge technologies and analyses lead to a completely novel understanding of Andean communities in the past.”

DECLARATION

This research was funded by a Franklin Research Grant, the University of South Florida office of the Dean and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles. The authors thank the Peruvian Ministry of Culture for granting us a permit (000318-2024-DCIA-DGPA-VMPCIC/MC) that allowed us to carry out this study. Open access funding provided by the University of Sydney

Hero: Aerial photo of Monte Sierpe, facing northeast. Photo: Jacob Bongers