John Topic

Professor

Anthropology

(Professor Emeriti- July 2011)

Office: Archaeology Centre 102

Lab: AC 102 South American Lab
Telephone: (705) 748-1011 x 7793
Email: Send an email

Education

BA, MA, PhD (Harvard)

Profile

Professor Topic earned his Anthropology degrees at Harvard University (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.). He is an archaeologist with primary interest in the Andes of South America where he has conducted archaeological fieldwork in Peru and Ecuador for more than 30 years. His research also includes the ethnohistory of South America, and he has done archival research in Spain, Ecuador, and Peru. Professor Topic has been at Trent since 1974. He is a member of the Institute of Andean Studies (Berkeley) and also serves on the Executive Committee of the Institute of Andean Research (New York) as Treasurer. In past years, he has served as Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Graduate Director of the M.A. program in Anthropology and was the former Associate Editor (Reviews) of Latin American Antiquity. In 2003, he received the Trent University Distinguished Research Award.

He has published papers in Europe, Mexico and Peru. A few publications in English are: "Prehistoric Fortification Systems of Northern Peru" (with T. Topic) in Current Anthropology (1978, Vol. 19, No. 3); "Craft Production in the Kingdom of Chimor" in The Northern Dynasties: Kingship and Statecraft in Chimor, ed. M.E. Moseley and A. Cordy-Collins (Washington, D.C., 1990); and "A Summary of the Inca Occupation of Huamachuco" (with Theresa Topic) in Provincial Inka: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Assessment of the Impact of the Inca State, ed. M.A. Malpass (Iowa City, 1993, pp. 17-43). "Catequil: The Archaeology, Ethnohistory and Ethnography of a Major Provincial Huaca" (with T. Topic and A. Melly) in Andean Social Organization, ed. W. H. Isbell and H. Silverman (New York, 2002); from "Stewards to Bureaucrats: Architecture and information flow at Chan Chan, Peru." Latin America Antiquity.