Under the direction of Dr. Timothy Kohler, MS Samantha Ruscavage-Barz will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct stylistic analysis of ceramic materials excavated from sites in the northern Rio Grande region of New Mexico and which date to the late 13th and early 14th centuries AD. In addition, selected pieces will be thin sectioned and subjected to petrographic analysis to determine raw material sources. With National Science Foundation support MS Ruscavage-Barz will visit collections housed in Santa Fe, Tucson and Los Angeles. Prior to the late 13th century population density in the northern Rio Grande region was low and people lived in small widely dispersed settlements. The picture rapidly changed however towards the end of this period when significantly larger groups aggregated in the type of multiroom Pueblo communities which still exist in the region today. Although archaeologists are uncertain of the cause, many believe that immigration is responsible for this rapid population rise. The basic question which MS Ruscavage-Barz wishes to address concerns forms of social organization and integration processes. What mechanisms do individuals and groups employ when they find themselves incorporated into new large and more complex social units? To what extent to they develop new sets of rules and demand compliance to promote uniformity? Some theories suggest that exactly the opposite occurs and previously independent entities act to emphasize their individuality in such changed and often charged circumstances. `Style` serves, in many instances, as a marker of group and individual identity. Different Southwest Native American groups decorated pottery in distinctive ways and it is possible to look at contemporary pottery and determine its point of origin. Complex decorations were likewise painted on prehistoric ceramics and MS Ruscavage-Barz will analyze materials excavated in well controlled contexts from a number of Rio Grande sites. In this way she will be able to trace design changes from the early smaller through the succeeding larger aggregated communities and determine to extent to which variation is either emphasized or disappears. It is likely that patterns noted in this realm would be reflected equally in other behavioral realms. This research is important for several reasons. It will help to develop an analytic technique which archaeologists may potentially employ in many regions of the world. It will shed new light on mechanisms which underlie culture change and assist in training a promising young scientist.
