Pre-Columbian Studies

Project Grants

Each year, Pre-Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks awards a limited number of project grants in support of research conducted by scholars affiliated with other institutions. These grants, which do not exceed $10,000, are specifically designed to assist with focused, short-term salvage excavation projects to retrieve valuable archaeological evidence from sites under threat of imminent destruction. Recent project grants have contributed to the rescue of important material evidence related to Huari architecture and iconography, social and economic organization in the Lambayeque Valley, and long-distance trade patterns along coastal Ecuador. Most often, funded research projects are also supported by awards from other institutions.

All credit and responsibility for the research conducted falls to the project grantees. The results and conclusions of grant recipients are not necessarily those of Dumbarton Oaks.

Recent Project Grants:

2005–06

Ann Peters, Cornell University

Paracas Necrópolis: Salvaging Contextual Relationships

Research report

2004–05

Charles Golden, Brandeis University

Salvage, Conservation, and Consolidation at the Classic Maya Site of Tecolote, Guatemala

2003–04

Warren Church, Columbus State University

Emergency Archaeology at Gran Pajatén

Arthur Demarest, Vanderbilt University

Uncovering Cancuen’s Royal Palace: The Political Role of Classic Maya Art

2002–03

Carol Mackey, California State University Northridge

Excavation of the Platform of Women Weavers

William Saturno, University of New Hampshire

The San Bartolo Mural Rescue Project, Department of Peten, Guatemala

2001–02

Richard Cooke, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Cueva de los Vampiros: Emergency Excavation of a Deep Rockshelter on the Central Pacific Coast of Panama

1999–2000, 2000–2001

Anita Cook, Catholic University of America

Emergency Excavations at Conchapata: Huari Temple Architecture and Iconography in Ayacucho, Peru

1998–1999

Hartmut Tschauner, et al., Harvard University

Socioeconomic Organization in the Later Prehispanic Lambayeque Sphere, Northern North Coast of Peru: Excavations on the Pampa de Burros

1995–1996, 1997–1998

Elizabeth J. Currie, University of York

The López Viejo Project, Ecuador