Melissa Vogel and students search for the origin of an ancient Peruvian society

April 2008 

Melissa Vogel always has an answer ready when someone asks about her plans for summer vacation. She’ll be heading to the Casma Valley in Peru to research a little-known civilization. And thanks to a three-year grant recently awarded by the National Science Foundation, this assistant professor of anthropology will double the number of students she takes with her to the site she has worked for four years.

“We know very little about the Casma culture,” says Vogel. “They did not produce museum quality ceramics, so they haven’t gotten a lot of attention.”

But this capital city, conquered in A.D. 1350 and first documented in the 1930s, captured Vogel’s attention. After graduating from UCLA, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Vogel wrote her dissertation on a Casma site in the Chao Valley, where little excavation had been done before she began her annual trips.

In her classes, Vogel’s enthusiasm easily spreads to her students, who come from a variety of disciplines. “These students bring skills related to their fields of study,” says Vogel. “For instance, landscape architecture students have expertise in maps and topography.”

In addition to Clemson students, she will be accompanied to David Pacifico, a graduate student from the University of Chicago, who has worked with her for several years.

But before camps are established and digging begins, there are mounds of paper work to be done. Vogel spends fall semesters writing grant proposals – an exercise that paid off with the $138,000 NSF award. And she says submitting her annual report to the Peruvian government is a laborious process. She also has to reapply every year for her permit to dig.

Vogel had just completed her master’s degree when she began the process of applying for a Peruvian government registry number to establish a research site. She had to jump through hoops to “prove I was legit.”

Now she is well known in the area, having established a good relationship with the nearby community and residents of squatter towns. She also hires locals to work in her camp. Relationships with other researchers in the area are based on professional courtesy. “We encourage respect for the areas others are working,” says Vogel.

Before she decided on a career in anthropology, Vogel declared her plans to be a paleontologist in the second grade. Neither of these choices exactly met with her family’s approval. “My stockbroker father tried to talk me out of it,” she says.

But Vogel has survived and thrived in a field that excites her and her students. Clemson currently offers only a minor in anthropology, but Vogel hopes that will change very soon.

“In my dreams, we’ve developed a field school in the Clemson Forest, where students can learn techniques during spring semester that they will use during summer research travels,” says Vogel.

That little girl who loved dinosaurs and dreamed of digging in the dirt knows dreams can come true.

Read more about Clemson's minor in anthropology.

 
Beth Jarrard, public information director for internal communications, can be reached at Inside@clemson.edu or (864) 656-3860.