David's dissertation available online for free/ Tesis doctoral de David esta disponible por acesso libre

Estoy muy grato de decir que, atreves de algunos meses en proceso de publicación digital, ahora está disponible mi tesis doctoral Neighborhood Politics: Diversity, Community, and Authority at El Purgatorio, Peru. El tesis está disponible en completo por acceso libre atreves del enlace siguiente - http://gradworks.umi.com/36/27/3627869.html Neighborhood Politics resultó de algunos cuatro años de investigaciones arqueológicos en el sitio arqueológico de El Purgatorio, que se ubica en la Valle Casma, Ancash, Perú. Muchísimas gracias con mis asesores académicos, instituciones de fondos, obreros, colegas, alumnos, y familiares sin quienes no hubiera sido posible cumplir ni a las investigaciones ni a la obra literaria. ¡Gracias!

I'm glad to say that, after a few months in the process of digital publication, my doctoral dissertation, Neighborhood Politics: Diversity Community, and Authority at El Purgatorio Peru is now available. It's available via open access, and can be downloaded in its entirety through the following link: http://gradworks.umi.com/36/27/3627869.html Neighborhood Politics is the result of four years of field research at the El Purgatorio archaeological site, located in Casma, Ancash, Peru. Many thanks to my advisers, funding agencies, workers, colleagues, students, and friends without whom neither the fieldwork nor the dissertation would have been possible. Thank you!

2014 Field Season Concludes

The 2014 Field Season of the Proyecto Arqueologico del Interior de Casma - Casma Hinterland Archaeological Project came to a close in mid-August of 2014. It was a smashing success. 

In brief, I explored - without using any invasive techniques - over 30 archaeological sites in the Casma Valley that are hypothetically related to El Purgatorio and the Casma Polity. Accordingly, it is clear that there is great potential for the next phase of the project, which will include detailed mapping, excavation, architectural, and artifact analysis. 

Those analyses will help answer questions like the following. Who was living in the Casma Valley just before the settlement of El Purgatorio (ca. AD 700-1400)? How did their settlements change - demographically, occupationally, institutionally - during the occupation of El Purgatorio? More broadly, why did people move into (or avoid) and later move out of El Purgatorio? What can the case of El Purgatorio and its hinterlands tell us more generally about urbanism in the late prehispanic period?

A summary field report will be made available to the public as soon as possible. Following a summary analysis of observations made in the field, the next step is to design a multi-component archaeological and ethnographic project and seek funding for the 2015 field season that will address the previously-presented and additional questions about the Casma Polity, communities, and cities from a global and trans-historical perspective.

Dave in a quebrada on the Sechin Branch of the Casma River