Characterizing Community-Center (Village) Formation in the VEP Study Area, a.d. 600–1280

Glowacki, Donna M.; Ortman, Scott G.

doi:10.1525/california/9780520270145.003.0014

Cited by 19 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Prehispanic Pueblo peoples first settled this region in large numbers around A.D. 600, but their society collapsed rapidly between A.D. 1250 and 1280 (Glowacki 2015;Kohler et al 2010;Ortman 2012), with the final depopulation corresponding to drought evident by the mid-A.D. 1200s (Douglass 1929:766-767) but most severe from 1276-1299Douglass (1946:20) called this "the great drought." Our reconstruction of the maize dryfarming niche-the portion of the landscape on which precipitation-fed maize agriculture was feasible (Bocinsky and Kohler 2014)-suggests that drought was not catastrophic throughout the region but made farming extremely difficult, if not untenable, in certain areas.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Social Consequences of Climate Change in the Central Mesa Verde Region

Schwindt¹,

Bocinsky²,

Ortman³

et al. 2016

Am. antiq.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The consequences of climate change vary over space and time. Effective studies of human responses to climatically induced environmental change must therefore sample the environmental diversity experienced by specific societies. We reconstruct population histories from A.D. 600 to 1280 in six environmentally distinct portions of the central Mesa Verde region in southwestern Colorado, relating these to climate-driven changes in agricultural potential. In all but one subregion, increases in maize-niche size led to increases in population size. Maize-niche size is also positively correlated with regional estimates of birth rates. High birth rates continued to accompany high population levels even as productive conditions declined in the A.D. 1200s. We reconstruct prominent imbalances between the maize-niche size and population densities in two subregions from A.D. 1140 to 1180 and from A.D. 1225 to 1260. We propose that human responses in those subregions, beginning by the mid-A.D. 1200s, contributed to violence and social collapse across the entire society. Our findings are relevant to discussions of how climate change will affect contemporary societies.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Social Consequences of Climate Change in the Central Mesa Verde Region

Schwindt¹,

Bocinsky²,

Ortman³

et al. 2016

Am. antiq.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is likely that some populations from both the Chaco and greater Mesa Verde areas went to the Rio Grande region during this period (Bocinsky and Kohler, 2014;Washburn, 2013). Glowacki and Ortman (2012) and Kohler (2012), among others, see no population decline in the CMV, while different researchers, such as Berry and Benson (2010) argue contrarily, and point out the total absence of tree-ring cutting dates in this period. A population decline in one locality and not in another is perfectly feasible and one can even suggest that some people left CMV but were replaced by others abandoning peripheral areas, a process which apparently did occur in the terminal Pueblo III period in this region.…”

Section: The Situation In the 12th Centurymentioning

confidence: 94%

The nutritional context of the Pueblo III depopulation of the northern San Juan: Too much maize?

Matson

2016

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…We also compiled architectural, ceramic, and chronometric data for thousands of archaeological sites and used these data to estimate the population histories of our study areas at a temporal resolution approaching a single human generation Ortman, 2016b;Schwindt et al, 2016). We created time series for interpersonal violence rates, demographic rates and hunting pressure on wild game (Johnson et al, 2005;Kohler et al, 2008Kohler et al, , 2009Kohler and Reese, 2014), and we reconstructed patterns of settlement, community organization and migration into and out of our study areas (Glowacki and Ortman, 2012;Ortman, 2012;Glowacki, 2015;Kemp et al, 2017). Finally, we developed agent-based models that provide robust null models for assessing the effects of climate for demographic rates and social organization (Kohler, 2012;Kohler et al, 2012a;Crabtree et al, 2017).…”

Section: The Relevance Of Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Kind of Relevance for Archaeology

Ortman

2019

Front. Digit. Humanit.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Traditional ways of doing archaeology impact the world in a variety of ways, but despite recent efforts the practical relevance of archaeology has remained limited. In this paper, I discuss why this is the case and suggest how archaeology can achieve greater practical relevance. I argue, first, that the traditional focus of archaeology on reconstructing the past is valuable but is unlikely to expand its practical relevance because the results are too context-specific. Second, I suggest traditional responses to the problem of historical contingency are also inadequate because the results are too general to connect to the specific issues and solutions society needs. Finally, I make a surprising and perhaps radical suggestion: that a productive way forward is to resuscitate and reformulate elements of the New Archaeology that were never realized by its proponents. I use the example of settlement scaling theory to illustrate that this is both possible and productive, and that additional work in this spirit would enhance the practical relevance of our field.

show abstract

Characterizing Community-Center (Village) Formation in the VEP Study Area, a.d. 600–1280

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

The Social Consequences of Climate Change in the Central Mesa Verde Region

The Social Consequences of Climate Change in the Central Mesa Verde Region

The nutritional context of the Pueblo III depopulation of the northern San Juan: Too much maize?

A New Kind of Relevance for Archaeology

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About