Dissertation Research: Demography and Household Dynamics in the Chiefdoms of the Alto Magdalena, Colombia

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Under the direction of Dr. Robert Drennan, Mr. Michael Kruschek will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological excavations in the Alto Magdalena region of southwestern Colombia. Although the Mayans, Aztec and Inca are best known for the levels of social complexity they reached prehistorically in the New World, the polity which developed in Alto Magdalena shares many of these same characteristics. Archaeologists have uncovered large, ornately carved stone tombs as well as monumental sized stone sculptures. Dr. Drennan and colleagues have traced the region's prehistory over a ca. 2,600 year period from 1,000 BC to the Spanish conquest. The record demonstrates increasing social complexity over time as well as an increase in population size. The relationship between population increase and the development of social complexity is well established and archaeologists recognized that these two variables are directly correlated. However the nature of this relationship is far from clear. Some scientists argue that population pressure is a driving force and that new social forms emerge from the need to organize increasing numbers of individuals. Other researchers believe that the causal chain is reversed and that family size increases in response to opportunities offered and demands imposed by an increasingly complex social structure. In the Alto Magdalena, as in many other areas of the world when this phenomenon has been noted, it is also uncertain whether increased population size is the result of in migration from other regions or from increased reproduction which leads to larger family size. Mr. Kruschek will collect data to shed light on these issues. He will excavate a large number of small shovel test pits to locate a sample of dwellings across the 2,600 year span and has developed an efficient way to estimate house size. Because ethnographic studies of modern day traditional people indicate a direct correlation between house area and number of occupants it will be possible to determine how family size changed over time. These data, in conjunction with available information on cultural and large scale population changes will allow Mr. Kruschek to determine whether population increase precedes or follows major cultural milestones and how family size, as opposed to migration, comes into play.This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data on an important and poorly understood archaeological phenomenon. It will yield new insight into the factors involved in the rise of complex society and will assist in training a promising young scientist.