Factors Controlling Pre-Columbian and Early Historic Maize Productivity in the American Southwest, Part 1: The Southern Colorado Plateau and Rio Grande Regions

Benson, Larry

doi:10.1007/s10816-010-9082-z

Cited by 45 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 158 publications

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“…We seek to answer the question: Given ample time and human effort, where on the landscape could we reasonably expect locally adapted maize landraces to flourish? Accordingly, we threshold the niche at the 30-cm isohyet for the net water-year precipitation reconstruction, which Shaw 19 and others 20 take as the lower bound for rain-fed maize cultivation; and we threshold the niche at 1,800 GDD (measured in Fahrenheit GDDs) for the growing-season GDD reconstruction, following experimental estimates for ancestral landraces 21,22 and previous reconstructions 20 . For each year, we define the rain-fed maize agricultural niche as the portion of the landscape that satisfies both of these thresholds (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More nuanced analyses of CAR-based paleoclimate reconstructions-such as cropping system models accounting for adaptation of maize landraces to local conditions 18 and integrating soils data 20 and killing degree days 18 -will improve our understanding of how humans and their domesticates adapted to changing climate conditions. Our paleoclimate reconstructions can also be improved by better accounting for low-frequency temperature change, perhaps via a regionalized application of wavelet modulation with pollen and speleothem data 30,31 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A 2,000-year reconstruction of the rain-fed maize agricultural niche in the US Southwest

Bocinsky

Kohler

2014

Nat Commun

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 2,000-year reconstruction of the rain-fed maize agricultural niche in the US Southwest

Bocinsky

Kohler

2014

Nat Commun

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“…This limitation is particularly evident when riparian areas around the canyon are included with the high-altitude sources investigated in the past (5,35). Similar radiogenic strontium isotope values are found in riparian areas closer to Chaco Canyon than the Chuska Mountains (42)(43)(44)(45). These riparian zones also could be contributors and, importantly, would be predicted to have highly mixed 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios (40,41).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Prehistoric deforestation at Chaco Canyon?

Wills

Drake

Dorshow

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Ancient societies are often used to illustrate the potential problems stemming from unsustainable land-use practices because the past seems rife with examples of sociopolitical “collapse” associated with the exhaustion of finite resources. Just as frequently, and typically in response to such presentations, archaeologists and other specialists caution against seeking simple cause-and effect-relationships in the complex data that comprise the archaeological record. In this study we examine the famous case of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, during the Bonito Phase ( ca . AD 860–1140), which has become a prominent popular illustration of ecological and social catastrophe attributed to deforestation. We conclude that there is no substantive evidence for deforestation at Chaco and no obvious indications that the depopulation of the canyon in the 13th century was caused by any specific cultural practices or natural events. Clearly there was a reason why these farming people eventually moved elsewhere, but the archaeological record has not yet produced compelling empirical evidence for what that reason might have been. Until such evidence appears, the legacy of Ancestral Pueblo society in Chaco should not be used as a cautionary story about socioeconomic failures in the modern world.

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“…As discussed in Benson (2010b), the modern above-ground maize plant contains 3.3 g N, and its root mass contains 0.4 g N; therefore, hills containing 2, 4, and 5 stalks of maize need, respectively, 7.4, 14.8, and 18.5 g of N in the form of NO 3 À . The NO 3 À is produced by the mineralization of org-N within the soil.…”

Section: Org-n and Maize Yieldsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data on the non-hydrolyzable component of Southwestern U.S. soils is lacking; however, data for other regions in North America suggest that approximately 50% of the upper 30e50 cm of North America soils is recalcitrant to mineralization (Table 5 in Benson, 2010b). Given the low amounts of mineralizable org-N below 50 cm (see Fig.…”

Section: Org-n and Maize Yieldsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Some thoughts on the factors that controlled prehistoric maize production in the American Southwest with application to southwestern Colorado

Benson

Ramsey

Stahle

et al. 2013

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Some thoughts on the factors that controlled prehistoric maize production in the American Southwest with application to southwestern Colorado" (2013). USGS Some thoughts on the factors that controlled prehistoric maize production in the American Southwest with application to southwestern Colorado In this paper, we present a model of prehistoric southwestern Colorado maize productivity. The model is based on a tree-ring reconstruction of water-year precipitation for Mesa Verde for the period A.D. 480 to 2011. Correlation of historic Mesa Verde precipitation with historic precipitation at 11 other weather stations enabled the construction of an elevation-dependent precipitation function. Prehistoric water-year precipitation values for Mesa Verde together with the elevation-dependent precipitation function allowed construction of the elevation of southwest Colorado precipitation contours for each year since A.D. 480, including the 30-cm contour, which represents the minimum amount of precipitation necessary for the production of maize and the 50-cm contour, which represents the optimum amount of precipitation necessary for the production of maize. In this paper, calculations of prehistoric maize productivity and field life for any specific elevation are also demonstrated. These calculations were performed using organic nitrogen measurements made on seven southwestern Colorado soil groups together with values of reconstructed water-year precipitation and estimations of the organic nitrogen mineralization rate. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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Factors Controlling Pre-Columbian and Early Historic Maize Productivity in the American Southwest, Part 1: The Southern Colorado Plateau and Rio Grande Regions

Cited by 45 publications

References 158 publications

A 2,000-year reconstruction of the rain-fed maize agricultural niche in the US Southwest

A 2,000-year reconstruction of the rain-fed maize agricultural niche in the US Southwest

Prehistoric deforestation at Chaco Canyon?

Some thoughts on the factors that controlled prehistoric maize production in the American Southwest with application to southwestern Colorado

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