Art and archeology of Peru at WNCC art gallery

"Art & Archaeology of Ancient Peru," an exhibition of photos by Western Nevada Community College anthropology instructor Dr. Hal Starratt will hang in the main gallery of the Western Nevada Community College's Bristlecone Building through Sept. 29. A reception for Starratt is scheduled from 4-6 p.m. Sept. 14.

This exhibition will showcase Peru's fascinating past from the mud-brick huacas of the coastal Moche to the grand stone cities of the highland Inca.

Starratt recently participated in a five-week study tour of Peru and Bolivia that was co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Community College Humanities Association. Travel included lectures and tours in the Sacred Valley, Lima, Machu Picchu, Cuzco and Lake Titicaca.

Starratt filled two notebooks with observations and shot more than 400 digital photos.

"I was very fortunate to be selected as a participant in this program from a large field of scholars, professors, and instructors across America," he said. "My students would be proud of me - the institute required a large amount of reading."

Starratt traveled to several Andean historic and prehistoric sites where he interacted with top Andean experts in the fields of archaeology, history, ethnography, sociology and more.

"The Andean Worlds Institute was invaluable in providing me background material for my continuing archaeological research on the north coast of Peru," Starratt said.

"This experience was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, and I know it will serve to make me a better teacher," he said, adding that his photos will be invaluable in his anthropology courses.