Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Long Term Effect of Immigration on Political Organization

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Under the direction of Takeshi Inomata, Juan Manuel Palomo of the University of Arizona will undertake research to understand the impact of political centralization and social inequalities on diet and migration patterns. Archaeological investigation allows scholars to generate relevant insights about processes of social inequality and political centralization over extended periods of time in human history, which include the emergence of sedentary communities, the development of larger polities, and their disintegrations. Previous scholarship has found that migration can be important during the process of political centralization, where on some occasions non-local individuals are drawn to big centers as the power and influence of those cities increased. Scholars are interested in examining the role that these migrations had during the development of social inequalities and political growth. Diet can play an important role for studying political centralization and social inequality because it not only provides us information about health, but also social class, ethnic groups, and lifestyle affiliations. By studying ancient populations, places of origin and cultural landscapes, the researchers can begin identifying and differentiating ethnic groups, social class, lifestyles, dietary practices, and other social complexities of human culture. The results of the proposed research will contribute to the study of migration, diet, social inequalities, political centralization, as well as to that of the emergence and decline of centralized polities not only in Mesoamerica but also in other parts of the world. Mr. Palomo will examine social inequality and political centralization processes at critical moments of the human history, which include the emergence of sedentary communities, the development of larger polities, and their disintegrations. To address these issues, the scholars are examining two more specific questions: 1) How were social inequality and political centralization reflected in dietary practices? 2) How were changes in social inequality and political centralization associated with those in-migrations and external relations? To examine these questions, the research team will conduct a multi-isotopic analysis on the skeletal remains of 86 sampled individuals from the Mayan archaeological site of Ceibal that date from the Middle Preclassic to the Terminal Classic periods. During the analysis, the researchers will create and promote education and training opportunities for students. Carbon and nitrogen isotopic data will allow the scholars to examine whether changes in social inequality and political centralization were accompanied by those in the diet. Oxygen, strontium, and lead isotopic analysis will be used to examine whether Ceibal attracted more migrants and whether there were more hostile external relations during the periods of growing political centralization or during the establishment of political regimes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.