Mid-2015 News / Noticias Medio-2015

It has been an eventful year, though slow for PAIC-CHAP. Nevertheless, PAIC-CHAP field and publication plans advance, albeit slowly, for later 2015 and in preparation for a 2016 field season. The 2015 season was suspended as David's first child was born in late June. Naturally, David chose to stay home and support his family; the holistic vision of PAIC-CHAP directs us to recognize the importance of family life in cultivating sustained and sustainable research, teaching, and publication efforts. Previous to baby's birth, David taught urban anthropology in Paris - where he examined the relationship of reconstructed Roman ruins in modern Parisian life - then returned to Chicago to teach public policy. Naturally, these teaching and light research experiences inform the holistic project of PAIC-CHAP: to examine urbanism and its consequences in a broad and deep-historical perspective.

Se ha ido un año muy eventuoso, aunque lento para PAIC-CHAP específicamente. Sin embargo, sus planes de investigaciones de campo y para publicaciones futuros avancen, aunque lentamente, para la segunda parte de 2015 y 2016. La temporada de investigaciones 2015 fue pospuesto porque David contó con el nacimiento de su primer hijo en junio. Naturalmente, David eligió a quedarse a casa para apoyar a su familia; la visión holística de PAIC-CHAP nos dirija a reconocer la importancia de familia en cultivar a investigaciones, practicas de enseñanza, y calendario de publicaciones sustenidos y sostenibles. Antes de su nacimiento de su hijo, David enseño a antropología urbano en París - donde el examino a la interrelación entre ruinas reconstruidos Gallo-Romanos en la vida Parisiense. Después, David volvió a Chicago para ensenar a un clase de política publica. Naturalmente, esos experiencias apoyan al proyecto holístico de PAIC-CHAP: investigar a urbanismo y sus consecuencias desde un perspectivo históricamente profundo y conceptualmente amplio.

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