Collaborative Research: Demographic catchments, interregional exchange and political complexity

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Dr. Charles S. Stanish, of the University of California at Los Angeles, and Dr. Kelly J. Knudson, of Arizona State University, along with colleagues in Peru and the United States, will undertake research to study the development of complex societies and to investigate the role of ritual feasting events in the development and expansion of complex societies. Understanding how complex groups emerge is an enduring anthropological question, both in past and present societies. It is also relevant in a 21st Century context in which boundaries and the very existence of multiple state societies are in flux. In addition to its scholarly merits, the broader impacts of this project include 1) social and economic impacts in the El Carmen region of Peru, 2) contributions to the education and research infrastructure in North and South America, and 3) the creation of a more diverse and inclusive scientific community through educational and training opportunities for students in the United States and Peru.Drs. Stanish and Knudson and their research team will examine the role of ritual feasting events in political development and expansion. The research will be conducted in the Chincha Valley of Peru, where a complex polity called Paracas flourished around 800-200 BCE. The researchers will excavate an archaeological site in southern Peru, a sunken court complex that was likely built to host visitors from distant areas. They will then use techniques from chemistry and geology to determine the origins of the humans buried in the sunken courts and in the objects, such as plant and animal remains, found there. By determining the geologic origins of the human and animal remains found in the sunken court archaeological sites, the researchers will test the hypothesis that major feasting events were used in the past to integrate different communities and were a vital part of the development of sociopolitical complexity.