Rachel Schloss
Education
Doctoral Student, Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, 2021- present
Masters of Science, Archaeological Anthropology, University of Toronto, 2020
Bachelors of Arts; (Honors), Archaeology and Visual Studies, University of Toronto, 2018
Areas of Interest
Architectural Construction Technologies, Inca Archaeology, Andean Archaeology, Colonial Andes, Archaeology of Colonialism in the Americas, Adobe/ Mudbrick, Place-Making, Temporality, Geoarchaeology.
Profile
Rachel Schloss (she/her/hers) is a PhD student at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA. Her doctoral research focuses on architecture and construction (technology, adaptation, and meaning) in Inca architecture from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries AD.
Before joining the Cotsen Institute, Rachel’s research focused on construction technologies in the Jequetepeque Valley on the North Coast of Peru. She worked with Dr. Edward Swenson of the University of Toronto at the large urban complex of Cañoncillo (Proyecto Jatanca-Huaca Colorada-Tecapa), where she undertook a comparative study of adobe brickwork at Huaca Colorada and Tecapa, neighboring Middle Horizon sites. In this study, she compared design and geoarchaeological data on adobe bricks at the sites to understand their relationship to each other, and the socio-political transformations that occurred at the end of their occupation.
Currently, Rachel is a co-coordinator of the Andean Lab and contributes to the Andean Lab Instagram. She is also the co-organizer of the Andean Working Group.
Field Experience
Proyecto Jatanca-Huaca Colorada-Tecapa, Jequetepeque Valley, La Libertad, Peru
Huqoq Excavation Project, Galilee, Israel
Teaching
Teaching Assistant, “Introduction to Anthropology”, Department of Anthropology, Professors Max Friesen, Ivan Kalmar, and Shawn Lehman. University of Toronto, 2018-2020.
Languages
Spanish, Advanced
French, Advanced
Portuguese, Intermediate
Hebrew, Beginner
Awards
Graduate Certificate in Early Modern Studies, Center for 17th and 18th Century Studies, UCLA
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Master’s Fellowship
University of Toronto Graduate Research Fellowship
Archaeology Centre Research Fellowship, University of Toronto
Biblical Archaeology Dig Scholarship
Canadian Friends of Hebrew University Travel Award