9412141 Drennan With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Robert Drennan and his colleagues will conduct four seasons of archaeological reconnaissance and excavation in the Alto Magdalena region of Colombia. This area has long attracted the attention of archaeologists because of its striking stone statuary and elaborate burial mounds. With previous NSF support, Dr. Drennan has documented aspects of the regional social, political and economic organization of the prehispanic inhabitants of one part of the Alto Magdalena. The results indicate the emergence of small scale regional chiefdoms beginning about 1 A.D. Dr. Drennan will now expand his work to include a larger portion of the Alto Magdalena. In conjunction with his colleagues, he will first conduct a broad scale regional survey. On the basis of the results, several localities will be examined in more detail and select excavations will be carried out. Archaeologists have observed that in many parts of the world simple agricultural societies were transformed into more complex entities which incorporated large numbers of people and exhibited clear cut social stratification. In the earlier stages such entities are termed "chiefdoms" and archaeologists wish to understand the processes which led to their rise. The Alto Magdalena region is unusual in this regard because it appears that status differentiation, when it emerged, was not accompanied by great variations in individual wealth. Usually the opposite is true. Through his expansion in areal coverage Dr. Drennan and his colleagues wish to understand the process in more detail. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will shed new light on the emergence of complex societies and assist in the training of graduate students.
