Under the direction of Dr. Michael Smith Mr. Timothy Hare will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will complete an archaeological survey of the Yautepec Valley which is located in Central Mexico and will conduct typological and chemical analysis on the materials collected. Over its long prehistory, the region saw the rise of a village way of life, evolution to independent city-states, the emergence of expansionary conquest-states and finally conquest and incorporation into the Aztec and finally Spanish empires. Mr. Smith wishes to understand how interaction among local intra-regional groups changed during this process and to reach this goal he will collect and analyze spatial data which sheds light on changing relationships over time. Under the guidance of Dr. Smith he has participated in a survey of the region to locate, date and map surface sites. With this NSF grant he shall complete the process. With the assistance of a Geographic Information System Mr. Smith shall examine changing site distributions over time. He shall collect ceramic materials which will then be subjected to both stylistic, petrographic and neutron activation analysis. On this basis it will be possible to identify production centers and trace movement of materials across the entire region. He shall also conduct compositional analysis on obsidian (volcanic glass which was used to make stone tools) to identify source areas and trace movement patterns. With these data it will be possible to identify local production units and study the interaction among them. Archaeologists wish to understand how complex societies arise and Central Mexico is a particularly important area because the whole process from village through state can be observed in a single region. Mr. Smith focuses on how the relationship between local units changes over this course and the relationship between regional and extra-regional forces. In the early part of the Yautepec sequence external factors are of relatively little importance while in the later period Aztecs and Spanish had a major influence. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will shed new light on the development of complex society and will contribute to the training of a promising young scientist.
