Refining Potential Source Regions via Combined Maize Niche Modeling and Isotopes: a Case Study from Chaco Canyon, NM, USA

Grimstead, Deanna N.; Pailes, Matthew; Bocinsky, R. Kyle

doi:10.1007/s10816-017-9359-6

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 88 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This circumstance has an interesting parallel in resource depletion observed in recent studies of the procurement of wild game at Chaco during the Bonito phase. Based on isotopic and rainfall data it appeared that deer and other large mammals used as meat sources at Pueblo Bonito were obtained from distances greater than 40 km away [ 8 , 82 ]. If local fuel and meat resources were both depleted and only available at great distances, this would have put tremendous pressure on the inhabitants to obtain essential resources.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem impacts by the Ancestral Puebloans of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Ancestral Puebloans occupied Chaco Canyon, in what is now the southwestern USA, for more than a millennium and harvested useful timber and fuel from the trees of distant forests as well as local woodlands, especially juniper and pinyon pine. These pinyon juniper woodland products were an essential part of the resource base from Late Archaic times (3000–100 BC) to the Bonito phase (AD 800–1140) during the great florescence of Chacoan culture. During this vast expanse of time, the availability of portions of the woodland declined. We posit, based on pollen and macrobotanical remains, that the Chaco Canyon woodlands were substantially impacted during Late Archaic to Basketmaker II times (100 BC–AD 500) when agriculture became a major means of food production and the manufacture of pottery was introduced into the canyon. By the time of the Bonito phase, the local woodlands, especially the juniper component, had been decimated by centuries of continuous extraction of a slow-growing resource. The destabilizing impact resulting from recurrent woodland harvesting likely contributed to the environmental unpredictability and difficulty in procuring essential resources suffered by the Ancestral Puebloans prior to their ultimate departure from Chaco Canyon.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem impacts by the Ancestral Puebloans of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Nonetheless, the procurement of large animals from upland areas is indicated by rainfall and isotopic variation (Grimstead et al . 2016, 2017). New research modelling the maize niche from a large-scale dendroclimatological database (Bocinsky et al .…”

Section: Feeding Chacomentioning

confidence: 99%