| NSF Org: |
BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | December 10, 2008 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 31, 2010 |
| Award Number: | 0818662 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
John Yellen
jyellen@nsf.gov (703)292-8759 BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences |
| Start Date: | March 1, 2009 |
| End Date: | February 29, 2012 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $209,076.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $214,116.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2010 = $5,040.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
601 S HOWES ST FORT COLLINS CO US 80521-2807 (970)491-6355 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
601 S HOWES ST FORT COLLINS CO US 80521-2807 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Archaeology |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001011DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.075 |
ABSTRACT
One of the great challenges for the 21st century will be creating solutions to linked social and environmental change. Archaeology is uniquely poised to make a significant contribution to this debate by helping to explain trajectories of socio-ecosystem evolution over long time scales. With National Science Foundation support Dr. Christopher Fisher, Dr. Helen Pollard, and an international team of colleagues will conduct two seasons of multi-disciplinary research in West Central Mexico to explore relationships between climatic fluctuation, landscape change, and the formation of the Prehistoric Tarascan (Purépecha) Empire. At the time of European contact the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin (LPB) was the geopolitical core of the Tarascan Empire and has long been recognized as a Mesoamerican core region. Prior to European conquest the LPB contained a large population, centralized settlement system, social stratification, and a highly engineered environment.
Current explanations for Tarascan state development (~A.D. 1350) highlight a "perfect storm" of increasing social complexity and competition, climatically induced lake transgression, and associated changes in the agrarian potential of the region, but the timing, extant, and interrelationships between these variables remains unclear. Three interrelated propositions critical to a refined understanding of human ecodynamics and the Tarascan State guide the project. First, was there a Basin-wide lake transgression around the time of Tarascan State formation? Next, what was the nature of socio-political organization in the region? Finally, what was the condition of the Postclassic landscape? The timing, extent, and associations between these changes remains unknown and to capitalize on recent research, extend the utility of extent models, and move archaeology in the region forward new research is needed.
This study will initiate an innovative program of multidisciplinary research by archaeologists, geologists, and geographers from the United States and Mexico, including full coverage settlement pattern survey, landscape survey, and environmental excavation within an important portion of the LPB, to expand the utility of current models and better understand the development of the Late Postclassic (A.D. 1350-1520) Tarascan State/Empire. This research will make a direct contribution to explanations for the development of the archaic Tarascan state and its expansion into an empire, Central Mexican prehistory, and serve as an important anthropological example of coupled human/natural systems over long time frames. Most importantly this work will more fully explore the timing, extent, and associations between these three critical factors to construct better models and analogs for the LPB as a whole, and for the region in general. Ultimately this knowledge can aid local conservation efforts by correlating results with local and global climatic indices, models of land degradation, and the feasibility of applying local ecological knowledge to modern problems. Students from Mexico, the United States, and Europe will participate in this research for their MA and Ph.D. research.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
A deeper understanding of the factors involved in the formation of ancient states can potentially help us better organize our modern world. One key region is the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico,(LPB) which at the time of European contact was the core of the Purépecha Empire. With the support of NSF the PI and a dedicated team of researchers have elucidated a long-term record of settlement and landscape change within in a critical area of the LPB. A major focus of the research highlights ways that societies respond to and mitigate the impact of climatic fluctuation.
Through this research we documented 17 previously unknown settlements from 30km2 in addition to thousands of agricultural terraces, roads, and other features. These settlements date to the Classic through Colonial periods and have yielded important insights into the settlement history of this portion of the LPB. The most prominent of these was the ancient city of Angamuco, which is documented for the first time through this research. Angamuco was primarily occupied between A.D. 1000-A.D. 1350 and covers over 10 square kilometers on an extremely rugged landform in the Mexican state of Michoacán. The rugged topography is not suitable for modern land-use resulting in the preservation of architectural features not usually seen in the region. Using a combination of archaeological survey, and remote sensing techniques such as LIDAR we have documented with sub-meter accuracy thousands of architectural features, developed an architectural typology, created models of city organization and growth, and used these data to create new scenarios of Purépecha Empire formation. This represents an incredible database of settlement organization, architectural variation, and a humanized landscape that is unique in Mesoamerican archaeology.
The ultimate goal of this research is to unravel the impact of past environmental and social factors to help stakeholders and policy makers in the region better respond to future change. Results from this research have yielded important new insights into the development of complex societies in western Mexico, and in the process make an important contribution to anthropological understanding of the urban process. This is far from a simple academic debate in that global environmental change is increasingly placing urban dwellers at risk of increased poverty, displacement, and health risk. For the region testing models that have been developed during this survey of have altered existing modes for the Prehistory of the region and have paved the way for much future research.
Last Modified: 04/30/2012
Modified by: Christopher T Fisher
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