Dr. Somerville is a colleague of mine, and I have followed his career as a graduate student at UCSD and now as junior faculty at UCSD and CSU Dominguez Hills. His project will provide fascinating insight into the factors that allowed one Meso-American civilization to resist for years the Spanish colonizing forces attacking it, and he will be employing some of the most advanced techniques, such as isotope analysis, in his research. His decade-long experience in the field makes him highly qualified to successfully complete this project.

As a fellow archaeologist of Mesoamerica I find the project proposed by Dr. Somerville to be extremely interesting. In a world increasingly influenced by disputes over borders and population movements, it is important for archaeologists to study the areas on the fringes of ancient states. Located on the crossroads between several cultural, political, and ecological boundaries, the sites that Dr. Somerville proposes to study provide excellent opportunities to study the dynamics underlying ancient imperialism. I look forward to his results.