PostDoctoral Research Fellowship

Brown_vega Margaret Y, State College PA

Investigators

Abstract

The Fellow's project, entitled "New Insights into Warfare: Developing Methods in Geographic Information Systems and Applying them to a Regional Archaeological Analysis of Central Andean Fortifications", will examine the construction and use of fortifications in prehispanic Perú in a 15,000 km2 region of the coast, a study that builds off of her prior dissertation research. Warfare changes society, and is a spatial phenomenon that generally occurs at regional scales. The spatial patterning of fortifications informs archaeologists on where people are threatened by war or where warfare occurred, but has until recently been difficult to assess regionally. This research addresses the need for systematic data collection on defensive sites in a large region to better permit assembly of scholarly contributions, and more rigorous comparison. The Fellow?s examination of fortifications on the coast of Perú will address two time periods during which war is rampant: the Early Horizon (ca. 900-200 B.C.) during which a pan-Andean cult ideology is widely adopted, and the Late Intermediate Period (ca. A.D. 1000-1476) during which the Chimú Empire expands southward. During the fellowship tenure the Fellow will establish a database of information on fortifications, and develop new methods and theories in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to apply to a regional archaeological analysis of warfare. The Fellow will spend one year in Perú carrying out fieldwork to systematically identify and map all hilltop forts from 11 coastal valleys. She will spend 2 months doing a remote survey of forts by analyzing aerial photographs at the Servicio Aerofotográfico Nacional in Lima. This remote survey will prepare her for 10 months of fieldwork during which she will visit each fort to collect data. The Fellow will also date a sample of the fortifications using radiocarbon dating. Using these data she will address the following questions: 1. How many forts are there, where are they, and how big are they? 2. what are the dates of each, how are they constructed, and is there any indication of attack? 3. Where are the water sources (river, lagoon, and ocean)? 4. What are the best routes and travel times between forts, valleys, and the coast and highlands? and 5. What are the changes in patterns of fortification over time? Regional analysis using GIS and spatial statistics will be carried out to rigorously test models of the relationship between human settlement, landscape use, and warfare as a social phenomenon. The Fellow will integrate theoretical knowledge from anthropology, archaeology, and GIS, and technical mastery of computer applications so that GIS tools can be programmed to assess models of human interaction, fort use, and war. The Fellow will by mentored by Dr. David Webster and Dr. George Milner of the Department of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University (PSU). PSU is a leader in both GIS research and the anthropology of warfare. The Fellow will have access to computing infrastructure and advanced analytical training that will permit new methods to be developed to examine the regional problem outlined. Advanced GIS training will include the construction of geodatabases, knowledge of map algebra, and learning Python and other script languages to develop and automate new analytical processes, and carry out very complex spatial analyses of visibility, movement, and surfaces over a very large region. Based in the Department of Anthropology, the Fellow will be guided in the application and forging of new methodological and theoretical ground in GIS and archaeology. Intellectual Merit: The broad impact of this research will be improved knowledge of indigenous warfare and its variability, and a better understanding of prehispanic Central Andean society and social dynamics. The results will provide new insights into the spatial and social dimensions of warfare. The research will contribute toward cross-cultural investigations of war and society, a topic of heightened anthropological interest in today's world. The research is significant for methodological and theoretical improvement of the use of GIS in archaeology. The Fellow will acquire advanced technical command of GIS. She will gain a high level of expertise to employ advanced and newly developed GIS techniques tailored to archaeological questions, transforming understandings of warfare and methods of regional analysis. Broader Impacts: The fellowship will aid in the Fellow?s long-term research goal of explaining the causes of warfare and understanding its varied social dimensions. The database created will be shared with other investigators to provide a basis for more intensive future investigations by the Fellow and colleagues. Radiocarbon dates will enhance current chronologies for the Central Andes, improving temporal control in the region. Spatial control of the distributions of fortifications and calculated routes will sharpen the ability of archaeologists to further examine individual sites within a broader context. The Fellow?s training will bridge anthropological archaeology and GIS, and provide her the knowledge and skills to enable her to teach this cross-disciplinary approach to the next generations of anthropologists and archaeologists.