Finals Week update

Yeah, well yesterday I had a talk with Ed which was infinitly productive. The final for my Ceramics Analysis course is a grant proposal where I...er..propose a problem that uses ceramics to anwser it. Since my other pet area of interest archaeologically is the Moche of the north coast of Peru (from which comes those skeleton photos). Orginally I thought to do a project challenging (or problematizing) Dr. Michael Dietler's assertion that pottery cannot act as communicative devices in a system analogized to language by looking at Moche ceramics because they appear to possess clear symbolic/ideological content. Moche scholars claim that the pots served ideological and political functions and were used by an elite to promulgate their specific ideology.

But as I went through the research process I became intrigued by a problem that has confounded scholars for quite some time--the sudden appearence of Moche fineline painted ware in the north region of the Moche cultural area and its specifically located production center at San Jose de Moro in the Jequetepeque valley. Having come up with this problem however I then had no clue as how to procede, ie what methods/technologies I could employ to answer my hypothesis. So I talked to Ed (who thought it a great project) and he came up with some great ideas/solutions.

After that talk everything started to fall into place and I began to feel even more confident about finishing these finals. Sure everything is due tomorrow and I havent technically started the physical writing yet but I at least have my head and feet in a solid place. If only I could just as easily locate my motivation nark.

Eve