REU Site: Ifugao Archaeological Project

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This project is supported under the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program, which is an NSF-wide program although each Directorate administers its own REU Site competition. This program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in an effort to introduce them to scientific research so as to encourage their continued engagement in the nation's scientific research and development enterprise. REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects designed especially for the purpose. The REU program is a major contributor to the NSF's goal of developing a diverse, internationally competitive, and globally-engaged science and engineering workforce. The Social, Behavioral and Economic (SBE) sciences Directorate awarded this REU Site grant to the University of California-Los Angeles in order to enhance undergraduate experience in scientific methods and analyses in a long-term research project at the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ifugao, Philippines. Students in this REU program are actively involved in investigating highland economic and political responses to the arrival of the Spanish in the northern Philippines. As an REU Site, the project recruits junior- and senior-level undergraduates from a wide-range of backgrounds, home institutions, ages, gender, and ethnicity, with emphasis on under-represented and female students. The PI-team strives to focus the recruitment on minority-serving institutions, including community colleges, by utilizing the institutional connections of the UCLA Academic Advancement Program-Center for Community College Partnerships. Students participating in the project are actively involved in the research design, data collection, and laboratory analysis of archaeologically retrieved materials. Students receive intensive training in archaeological field methods, faunal and botanical analyses, human osteology, and, artifact identification and cataloguing. Through the collaboration between UCLA (lead institution), University of Washington, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Philippines, the National Museum of the Philippines, and the Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement, Inc., students in this REU Site program receive intensive mentorship during and after the program.Although the Spanish failed to colonize the northern Philippine highlands, preliminary analysis of the archaeological record from Ifugao suggests drastic landscape and social transformations ensued after c. AD 1600. To determine the impacts of Spanish colonialism in highland Philippines, this research program conducts subsurface excavations, spatial modeling, and analyses of faunal and paleobotanical samples, artifacts, and human osteolical remains. The research program investigates the political and economic impacts of Spanish colonialism in highland Philippines, particularly, in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ifugao, Philippines, where the most extensive rice terraces in the world are located. Previous models suggest that the rice terraces are at least 2,000 years old. Recent archaeological information, however, indicates that the agricultural marvels were constructed after the arrival of the Spanish in the northern Philippines at c. AD 1600. In addition, rapid social and environmental change occurred in the region shortly after AD 1600. This research provides another perspective to our understanding of Spanish colonialism, which has largely focused on the Americas. The Ifugao rice terraces are rapidly deteriorating and the Ifugao people are losing both their tangible and intangible heritage to changes brought about by economic and political transformations. The rice terraces are examples of landesque and the assimilation of Ifugao social organization to that of the state together with the low status given to farmers and the rapid disappearance of traditional knowledge could further spell degradation of the terraces. One of the overarching goals of this study is to contribute to heritage conservation programs in Ifugao, in both tangible and intangible heritage. As such, this REU Site engages the community by promoting direct and active participation of descendant communities. The project also helps with the establishment of a community museum and on-site museum to complement the development of indigenous culture and history curriculum. In addition, this program aims to encourage undergraduate students to pursue STEM-related and anthropology graduate studies. The NSF International Science and Engineering (ISE) program co-funds this REU Site project.