Chair: Dr. Hannah Hoover

Miguel Vázquez is a PhD student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and a registered professional archaeologist (MS RPA). In 1986, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Geology from the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, and in 2004, a master’s degree in Archaeology from the Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean in Puerto Rico. His master’s degree thesis was entitled High-Energy Meteorological Events and Their Effect on the Pre-Columbian Society of Puerto Rico – The Case of Bateyes de Viví. His research assessed the impact of high-energy atmospheric events on the natural landscape and how this prompted a pre-Columbian group to modify the cultural landscape. To carry out this assessment, he used geophysical, geotechnical, and traditional archaeological methods to provide the information needed to answer the study questions with minimal site disturbance.

Vázquez has practiced archaeology since 1980 and directed several archaeological surveys for the Institute of Puerto Rico Culture and the Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office. He works as a geology and archaeology consultant on the Utuado-Caguana Archaeological Project for the University College London and has served as a principal investigator on the 2025 Indigenous Ceremonial Center of Caguana Archaeological Project and the Intensive Archaeological Study of the Caguana Indigenous Ceremonial Center (Utuado, Borikén).

His major interests are geoarchaeology and the development of complex societies. At present, he is working as a Research Technician at the Laboratory of Environmental Archaeology Core Facility at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.