9318884 Denevan Under the direction of Dr. William Denevan, Ms. Sarah Brooks will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct archaeological research in the Colca Valley of Peru and attempt to date and determine the construction sequence of different kinds of agricultural terraces located on the valley slopes. She will also collect data which will permit reconstruction of climate change. To answer the first question she will conduct a through survey of a 4 square km region with two terrace types and carry out partial or complete excavations of 25 terraces and features physically associated with them. She will also partially uncover several house structures and canals. Analyses will be conducted on recovered lithics, ceramics and faunal remains. Dates will be obtained through comparative ceramic analyses, carbon 14 analyses of organic materials and hydration of obsidian artifacts. To determine climate change, analyses will be conducted both on pollen and macro faunal materials collected during excavation. Data resulting from the analysis of the Quelccaya ice cap near the Colca Valley have indicated wet and dry periods from AD 500 to the present. Limited studies of the region's prehistory indicate that in the early sixth century AD farming practices changed and people abandoned rainfed sloping field terraces and began to construct counterparts which could be watered by irrigation. Ms. Brooks wishes to examine the relationship between climate change and postulated human response. She wishes to determine how rainfall and vegetation changed in the region and whether the new farming practices were in fact related to this shift. This research is important for several reasons. Many areas in the Andes which are unused today at one time supported intensive agriculture. Reconstruction of past farming practices and discovery the relationship between them and environmental variables may provide insights of direct use for regional development today. In t he course of her work Ms. Brooks will also produce a chronological sequence of value to many archaeologists who work in highland Peru. The project will assist in the training of a promising young scientist. ***
