FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS, the big questions about human history and prehistory concern the development of what we think of as civilization. How, when, and why did people settle down, domesticate plants and animals, develop hierarchical political organizations, and begin living in cities? We know that major technological, social, and political transitions occurred and recurred as sedentary life first developed. These transitions took place in many different parts of the world, under differing environmental, economic, and social conditions, and among groups that had no contact with one another.

I study the economic and social changes that occurred among people living along the coast of Peru from 10,000 to 3,000 years ago. I am most interested in discovering when and why these people first abandoned a life of transhumance--of moving from place to place to harvest resources available seasonally--and instead settled in permanent or semipermanent villages. I also study the beginnings of their horticulture, particularly the appearance of domesticated cotton, and I look for signs of specialization and intensification of their fishing industry.

Research on the origins of settled village life along Peru's coastline is particularly interesting because the sequence of events there is different from that seen elsewhere. In many other parts of the world, agriculture is very important is supporting a sedentary lifestyle, and this led earlier archaeologists to conclude that farming was necessary to early civilization. On the coast of Peru, however, as along the Northwest coast of North America and in a few other places, it appears that early village life was based on a fishing industry rather than on farming. Archaeologists are now looking more closely at the history of settlements in these places and have, as a consequence, changed their ideas about the factors underlying the development of civilization. By excavating the houses, middens (garbage dumps), and cemeteries of early residents of the south coast of Peru, I can study their diet, technology, economy, and even household organization. This kind of research, which can reveal the causes and consequences of settling down (and of other big changes in the way people lived in the past), is contributing to our understanding of the origins of civilization, both in Peru and elsewhere.