Education
University of Arizona. Cornell University.
anthropologist archaeologist university professor
University of Arizona. Cornell University.
He majored in anthropology at Cornell (Bachelor 1971) where he became interested in the ancient Andean civilization and experimental archaeology under tutelage of Professor John V. Murra and Robert Ascher, respectively. Two seasons (1973, 1975) of archaeological fieldwork at the Moche city of Pampa Grande (c AD 600-750) on the northern coast of Peru led to his doctorate in anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1976.
Since then, Shimada taught at University of Oregon (1977-1978), Princeton (1978–1983) and Harvard (1984–1991) before joining the SIUC in 1994.
From 1978 to the present, he has directed the Sicán Archaeological Project, focusing on the developmental processes, technology, religion, and other aspects of the pre-Hispanic Sicán culture (c AD 800-1400) on the northern coast of Peru. The project results formed the collection foundations of the Sicán National Museum in Ferreñafe, Peru, which opened in In 2003 Shimada began interdisciplinary investigation into the social foundations and the paleo-environmental context of the famed prehistoric religious center of Pachacamac, outside the city of Lima.
The executive government (2003) and the congress (2006) of Peru bestowed him medals of honor for his contribution to Peruvian cultural and historical knowledge and understanding. He has written 150 journal articles and book chapters, collaborating on many of them with other prominent scholars in the field, including, but not limited to, Kenichi Shinoda and Robert Corruccini.
Doctor Shimada has written or edited 11 books, including the following works: Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture (1994).
Cultura Sicán (1995). Andean Ceramics: Technology, Organization and Approaches (1998). And Craft Production in Complex Societies (2007).
2003, national government of Peru awarded him a medal of honor I.