Matthew Helmer

Matthew Helmer did his PhD at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, United Kingdom. He recently defended his dissertation entitled “The Archaeology of an Ancient Seaside Town: Performance and Community at Samanco, Nepeña Valley, Peru”. Matt’s primary interests are maritime societies, ancient performance, early urbanism, and contemporary engagements with archaeological heritage by local communities. He directs excavations at the Samanco archaeological complex alongside Jeisen Navarro Vega.

Matt's work has appeared in a number of academic journals, and recent finds of a 15th Century Chimú-Inka tomb at Samanco were widely published in National Geographic and Archaeology Magazine.