With National Science Foundation (NSF) support, Drs. Edward Schortman, Patricia Urban and their colleagues have conducted archaeological survey and excavation in the Naco Valley in Honduras. This work has revealed the presence of a complex prehistoric polity which flourished during the first millennium A.D. The central site of La Sierra contains large numbers of both monumental platforms as well as smaller constructions. The surrounding region also has many sites, all significantly smaller than La Sierra itself. This suggests that La Sierra represents the capital of a state level polity which encompasses the entire Naco Valley and possibly extends beyond these physiographic limits. Between ca 950-1000 AD, a dramatic change took place in the Naco Valley. Population rapidly declined and drastic settlement shifts occurred. Drs. Schortman and Urban wish to understand the reasons for this and speculate that environmental change and depletion may be the cause. They will thus collect data through geomorphological investigation. They will reconstruct ancient patterns of land use, hydrology and erosion. Field and laboratory studies will construct a geologic and soil map of the region, assess the fertility and crops grown in ancient agricultural fields and determine the extent and intensity of prehistoric hill slope erosion. The research is important for several reasons. First, it will increase our understanding of how complex societies develop, are maintained and eventually collapse. The project will also provide data from a relatively unknown area and these will be of interest to a large number of archaeologists. Finally, because the research is based at an undergraduate institution and students will be taken into the field, it will provide a first hand introduction to how science is conducted and hopefully encourage these individuals to pursue careers in this area.
