The Navajo Depopulation of Dinétah

Towner, Ronald H.

doi:10.3998/jar.0521004.0064.404

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Earliest archaeological and historical evidence suggest that, by 1500 CE, the center of hogan -building, pastoral Diné life, and culture was in an area called the Dinetah in the Largo and Gobernador basins of northwestern New Mexico. By the mid-1700s, the cultural center for pastoral Diné populations shifted westward with increased use of the Chuska and Lukachukai mountains, partially in response to overhunting in the Dinetah and the abundance of large game and good forage for domestic sheep in the forested mountains, among other factors ( 34 ). Previous studies have suggested that Navajo pastoralism reduced fire activity in pine forests ( 28 ), although burning practices may also have kept fires burning frequently in heavily traveled areas ( 29 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous fire management and cross-scale fire-climate relationships in the Southwest United States from 1500 to 1900 CE

et al. 2022

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Prior research suggests that Indigenous fire management buffers climate influences on wildfires, but it is unclear whether these benefits accrue across geographic scales. We use a network of 4824 fire-scarred trees in Southwest United States dry forests to analyze up to 400 years of fire-climate relationships at local, landscape, and regional scales for traditional territories of three different Indigenous cultures. Comparison of fire-year and prior climate conditions for periods of intensive cultural use and less-intensive use indicates that Indigenous fire management weakened fire-climate relationships at local and landscape scales. This effect did not scale up across the entire region because land use was spatially and temporally heterogeneous at that scale. Restoring or emulating Indigenous fire practices could buffer climate impacts at local scales but would need to be repeatedly implemented at broad scales for broader regional benefits.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous fire management and cross-scale fire-climate relationships in the Southwest United States from 1500 to 1900 CE

et al. 2022

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“…Early on, sheep were not kept long before they were consumed, but as wool became important to the Navajo economy, raising larger herds took on greater importance (Andrews ). During the 18th century, there was a diaspora among Navajos, who were slowly leaving their homelands along the Colorado–New Mexico border and emigrating south and west, including to the present‐day Navajo Nation (Towner ). By the late 1700s, several settled areas around the Chuska Mountains and Defiance Plateau accounted for most of the approximately 10,000‐person Diné population (Bailey , Andrews ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike most other regions in the western United States, the present‐day Navajo Nation was never settled or used extensively by Euro‐Americans. Apart from a four‐year exile in the 1860s, which began with the “Long Walk” in 1863 forced by the U.S. military (Bailey ), the area has remained under the control of the Diné (Navajo) indigenous group since they began to settle in this particular area in the late 17th century (Towner ). Prior to circa 1700, the archaeological record suggests that the area was probably not well used and lacked any large settlements for centuries (McDonald ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal variability of human–fire interactions on the Navajo Nation

et al. 2019

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Unraveling the effects of climate and land use on historical fire regimes provides important insights into broader human-fire-climate dynamics, which are necessary for ecologically based forest management. We developed a spatial human land-use model for Navajo Nation forests across which we sampled a network of tree-ring fire history sites to reflect contrasting historical land-use intensity: high human use, primarily in the Chuska Mountains, and low human use, primarily on the central Defiance Plateau. We tested for and compared human-and climate-driven changes in the fire regimes by applying change point detection, regression, and superposed epoch analyses. The historical fire regimes and fire-climate relationships reflect those of similar forests regionally and are similar between the two Navajo landscapes until the early 1800s. We then determined that a previously identified, localized, early (1830s) decline in fire activity was geographically widespread across higher human-use sites. In contrast, fires continued to burn uninterrupted through this period at the lower use sites. Though the 1830s included significantly wet and cold periods that could have contributed to fire regime decline, human factors pose a more spatiotemporally consistent explanation. A rise in Navajo pastoralism in the 1820s-1830s was concentrated seasonally in the heavy use sites. By the 1880s, livestock numbers more than doubled, grazing became far more spatially widespread, and frequent fire regimes of Navajo forests collapsed. The last widespread fire recorded on either landscape was in 1886. In the Chuska Mountains, livestock and fire coexisted for over 50 yr between the initial 1832 fire decline and the end of frequent fires after 1886, an exceptional pattern in the western United States. Though unique in its timing, character, and spatial dynamics, the collapse of historical fire regimes in Navajo forests contributed to now over a century without frequent surface fire, leaving Navajo forests at risk for large, uncharacteristic high-severity fires.

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“…There are a few Gobernador phase sites in the Chaco Canyon area (McKenna and Windes, n.d.; Vivian, 1960) and west of the Chuska Mountains (Gilpin, 1996;Kemrer, 1974), but their paucity may be more a result of survey coverage, site recording and sampling techniques than past population movements (Begay and Roberts, 1996;Warburton and Begay, 2005). Although the 1748 drought may have induced some Navajos to migrate (Reeve, 1959), increased intensity and severity of Ute and Comanche raiding in the Dinétah forced the depopulation of the area in the 1750s (Towner, 2008).…”

Section: Early Navajo Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Arboreal archaeology and early Navajo land use

Towner

2016

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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a b s t r a c tArboreal archaeology is the use of tree-ring data to examine past human exploitation of forest resources. Arboreal archaeology can identify how and when past groups procured wood for artifact manufacture, medicine, fuel, and construction timbers. More importantly, dendroarchaeological sampling of these non-site resources can significantly enhance our understanding of past land use patterns. This research shows the utility of the arboreal archaeological record in understanding early Navajo land use in northwestern New Mexico, USA, and suggests archaeologists should promote wider application of the research on these endangered parts of the archaeological record.

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The Navajo Depopulation of Dinétah

Cited by 10 publications

References 13 publications

Indigenous fire management and cross-scale fire-climate relationships in the Southwest United States from 1500 to 1900 CE

Indigenous fire management and cross-scale fire-climate relationships in the Southwest United States from 1500 to 1900 CE

Spatiotemporal variability of human–fire interactions on the Navajo Nation

Arboreal archaeology and early Navajo land use

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