Social Adaptation to Food Stress: A Prehistoric Southwestern Example

Climate and community in Central Mesa Verde

“…For example, farming communities can build water management infrastructure to serve domestic and agricultural needs even during drought years (Ackerly 2016; Hill et al, 2015; Wilshusen et al, 1997). Others might store surplus food (Bogaard 2017; Kuijt 2015; Kuijt and Finlayson 2009; Winterhalder and Goland 1997), trade (Baldos and Hertel 2015; Kennett and Kennett 2000; Minc and Smith 1989; Minnis 1985; Tainter 1995), change mobility patterns (Petraglia et al, 2020; Varien et al, 2000) or rely on alternative food sources (Minnis 1985, 2021; O'Shea 1989) to cope with climatically constrained subsistence. Although buffering strategies are a key component of climate resiliency among past and present people, there is no guarantee that they will allow people to successfully mitigate future climate stressors.…”

“…Acute climate stress is when climate conditions not only reduce people's immediate subsistence efforts, but also threaten the buffering strategies that people use to mitigate food stress. Although acute stress is not necessarily a direct catalyst for social change, the consequences of acute stress, particularly food shortages, can be an immediate threat to people's basic nutritional needs (UNICEF 2020), and long‐term malnutrition can have adverse effects including increasing perceptions of vulnerability (Minnis 1985) or decreasing life expectancy (Doblhammer et al, 2013). As a consequence, acute climate stress can cause people to change mobility patterns, abandoni urban areas, or divide into smaller groups and settlements in pursuit of new and/or different subsistence strategies.…”