Under the supervision of Dr. Christine Hastorf, Matthew Sayre will conduct analysis of data gathered from excavations of a domestic sector of the important Andean ceremonial center of Chavin de Huantar. The place of ceremonial centers in early settled life, especially as they interacted and transformed the local domestic communities and the broader landscape, is an important subject in archaeological inquiry. This project will address these issues at the highland Peruvian site of Chavin de Huantar, the presumed ceremonial center of the Early Horizon (900-200 BC). A full analysis of all remains, with special focus on paleoethnobotanical analyses of macroscopic and microscopic plant samples will be completed. Paleoethnobotany is able to address changing agricultural, collecting and food practices because it is one field where the three seemingly discrete areas of ecology, ritual, and agriculture intersect.
There are three parts to this project. The first section is the excavation of domestic households in the La Banda region, across the river from the site of Chavin. The La Banda sector is the first contemporaneous domestic community to be accessible at Chavin. Excavations, combined with direct absolute dating, will reliably situate these domestic constructions within the local chronology and determine the relationship of this sector with the monumental sector of Chavin. The second part of the project is a modern agroecological survey, which will be funded by other sources. The third component of the project is a paleoethnobotanical analysis conducted on excavated materials from the domestic and ceremonial areas of Chavin. The paleoethnobotanical research will include the analysis of macrobotanical remains, phytoliths and starch grains from soil samples as well as from use-surfaces of selected artifacts. This research is particularly crucial as the site is postulated to have served as a center for ritual induction through the use of sacred plants. Additionally, the spread of the "Chavin cult" has been important in the debates surrounding the extent of trade and exchange during these early civilizations, especially the place of plants in these exchanges. These research goals are particularly important at a site whose nature has long been inferred without substantial, testable data.
The intellectual merit of this study builds on its contribution to wider theoretical discussions of life inside and outside early ceremonial centers, especially for Chavin de Huantar, a site of central importance in the development of civilization in the pre-Hispanic Andes, as well as on Paleoethnobotanical methodology. The broader impacts of this project is seen in the major cultural exchange between Americans and Peruvians providing training opportunities for undergraduate students from several nations. Stanford and UC Berkeley undergraduate and Peruvian students will assist in excavations of the domestic structures in the La Banda region under my supervision and that of project field director, Dr. John Rick. Additionally, four Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) students from UC Berkeley will be involved in post-excavation laboratory analysis, with specific emphasis on Latin American students. The results of this research will be widely distributed in both academic and public settings including presentations to Peruvian and American schools.
