archaeologist william sanders. i think all human societies are the product of a process of cultural evolution. in general, this evolution leads to an increase in the size of societies, an increase in the complexity of their interaction and institutions. it also leads to more economic interdependence among households within a society, and among societies. keach: to trace the evolution of human societies in the new world, an archaeological team comes here to mexico's tehuacan valley. the team is led by veteran archaeologist scotty macneish. they are seeking evidence of the first inhabitants of the valley. when macneish first excavated here in 1962, he discovered a time capsule of human occupation at a site called purron cave. macneish: here we are back at purron cave. we really haven't dug in it in almost 30 years. walls all preserved. even the trowel marks we made to mark off strata are still preserved and we have all sorts of neat floors of charcoal one on top of the other. the amazing thing about this cave is that