Michael A. Malpass received his doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981. He is currently Professor and Charles A. Dana Chair in the Social Sciences at Ithaca College.  His early work involved identifying the adaptations of the earliest occupants of the west coast of Peru, and his subsequent work involved understanding the evolution of agricultural systems in the highlands.  He is  the author of four books about the Incas as well as numerous articles about earlier cultures.