Cooper attended Bryanston School in Dorset,[2] and University College London (UCL) where he was awarded BA, MA and PhD qualifications in archaeology.
[4] He specialises in studying the historic effects of climate change in Caribbean island societies, most recently through examination of the cavescapes of Isla de Mona off Puerto Rico.
[5] In 2012 he released the book Surviving Sudden Environmental Change: Answers from Archaeology with Payson D. Sheets which was described as being one of the "outstanding examples of 'thinking big'.
[8] A second series aired in September 2014 entitled Lost Kingdoms of Central America focusing on the Olmec, Chiriquí (Ngäbe) and Taíno people and the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan.
[9] In 2013 he filmed a one off-special for BBC 4 entitled Easter Island: Mysteries of a Lost World which re-examined the historic collapse in Rapa Nui society.