Michelle Young, a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University, will investigate how interregional interaction between discrete societies affects sociopolitical development. The primary focus of this research is interaction through long-distance exchange networks, however; the investigation will also consider the spread of religious practices and the formation of new pan-regional social identities in processes of social and cultural change. Archaeological research is uniquely poised to examine the relationship between exchange and other forms of interaction in the processes which led to social complexity by revealing how these factors played out in ancient societies. What and how do societies "borrow" from one another, and what impact does outside influence have on local decision-making and development? Although this study examines one particular case study in prehistory, it contextualizes its findings using models such as globalization which are relevant to the way one understands the current, increasingly more interconnected world. The project has already had significant impacts on the local community at the field site by providing employment and education opportunities for rural women and students. The professional training and development of multiple international students and research opportunities for interested students and investigators will also be made possible through this investigation. Results from this project will form the basis of two Ph.D. dissertations and several conference papers and publications
Young will compare changes in sociopolitical organization and long-distance interaction through time at the ancient town of Atalla, located in a peripheral region of Peruvian highlands. This research will examine interaction by identifying imported and exported goods through chemical and geological sourcing of obsidian, petrographic and stylistic analyses of ceramics and chemical identification of cinnabar, a locally available mineral pigment. The study will also examine non-commercial influence at Atalla through cross-cultural comparisons of architecture and domestic and ceremonial practices. These diverse lines of evidence of interaction will converge with evidence of a complex settlement, the establishment of monumental architecture, and emergence of social differentiation, allowing investigators to detect causal relationships if and where they exist. The investigation will clarify the role of interregional interaction in the development of local complex social arrangements.
