Under Professor Browman's guidance, Ms. Patti Wright, a graduate student at Washington University, will collect archaeological data for her doctoral dissertation. She will participate in excavations at the site of Tambo Viejo located on the desert coast of southern Peru. Her work will focus on the examination of plant remains. Previous work at the site has shown that, because of the environmental conditions, plant remains are extremely well preserved. Ms. Wright will conduct excavations and screen soil in different areas of the site to collect carefully controlled floral samples. These remains will be classified according to such variables as provenience, mode of preservation, size class, and anatomical part. With such data, it will be possible to gain insight not only into the subsistence practices of ancient Peruvians but also the factors which affect the differential preservation and distribution of floral remains. In conjunction with this archaeological research, Ms. Wright will collect extant specimens to provide reference material. She will also construct four experimental plots and introduce flora in known amounts and types. These will be left exposed to the natural elements. Several plots will be preserved for future analysis while others will be excavated. This will permit examination of post-depositional forces which pattern the archaeological record and overlie and distort the original cultural imprint. Archaeologists realize that it is extremely difficult to recover cultural behavior from excavated remains. While very little work has been done with flora, faunal remains have been extensively examined. The research has indicated that very special techniques for analysis must be devised. It has also shown that the imprint by post-depositional factors is strong and additional approaches must be developed to control for this. Very little attention has been devoted to floral remains, and this work will help to remedy this problem. This research is important for several reasons. It will develop techniques which will have wide archaeological applicability. Secondly, it will further the training of a very promising young scientist.
