With National Science Foundation support Dr. Maria Masucci will conduct neutron activation analysis of clay samples collected in the southwestern portion of Ecuador. She will also conduct neutron activation as well as petrographic analysis on a series of ceramics which date from Guangala Phase (100B.C.-A.D.800) sites located in the same region. These studies will shed light on details of the ceramic manufacturing process and also allow the clay in finished vessels to be traced back to raw material source areas. This information in turn will permit Dr. Masucci to reconstruct the economic and political interactions among individual Guangala Phase communities and determine how they changed over time. The Andean region was home to one of the world's great civilizations which saw the incorporation of large numbers of individuals into a state comparable in size to those which exist in the region today. Centralized authorities commanded enough labor to erect monumental constructions and maintain an extensive road system. Archaeologists wish to understand the processes which lead to the rise of complex societies and many believe that trade, and relative inequities which developed through it may have played an important part. While much is known about the prehistory of Peru, relatively less information is available for Ecuador, its northern neighbor, and as the political situation in Peru has grown more difficult, archaeologists have focussed their attention more in other Andean regions. The Guangala Phase appears to mark a period of incipient political centralization and therefore the results of Dr. Masucci's work should shed light on the state development process. This project will produce data of interest to a large number of archaeologists. It will also help to develop analytic techniques which may be applied in many archaeological situations.
