Under the direction of Dr. Robert Drennan, MS Ana Maria Boada will collect data for her doctoral dissertation.She will conduct archaeological excavations at the site of El Venado which is located in the Valle de Samaca of Columbia. The site is important because it documents a crucial period between 300 and 1600 AD and thus can shed light on the development of complex hierarchically organized societies. She will conduct a systematic surface collection over the entire 16 hectare settlement area, excavate approximately 100 test pits in residential areas of the site which, based on the surface indications, represent different periods of time. She will expand a number of pits which detect the presence of subsurface features. The five major categories of artifacts which will result - ceramics, lithics, faunal, floral and skeletal remains will be analyzed by appropriate experts. The goal of the research is to test competing ideas about how complex hierarchically organized societies arise. In particular MS Boada wishes to understand the process which leads to the development of chiefdoms. One group of anthropologists have argued that early social differentiation is based primarily of factors which enhance prestige but do not involve control of important economic goods. They believe that social and ideological causes are primary. Others would point to economics and direct control of essential resources such as food. MS Boada's work should allow her to distinguish between these two causes. The site is well chosen for several reasons. It is rich in material remains and covers the appropriate period of time. Because there is a good ethnohistoric material, written early Spanish records provide an endpoint from which to work backwards. This research will provide information of interest to many archaeologists. It will shed new light on the origins of social complexity and contribute to the training of a promising young scientist.
