Emergence and Collapse of Early Villages : Models of Central Mesa Verde Archaeology

Ancestral Pueblo farmers encountered the deep, well watered, and productive soils of the central Mesa Verde region of Southwest Colorado around A.D. 600, and within two centuries built some of the largest villages known up to that time in the U.S. Southwest. But one hundred years later, those villages were empty, and most people had gone. This cycle repeated itself from the mid-A.D. 1000s until 1280, when Puebloan farmers permanently abandoned the entire northern Southwest. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book examines how climate change, population size, interpersonal conflict, resource depression, and changing social organization contribute to explaining these dramatic shifts. Comparing the simulations from agent-based models with the precisely dated archaeological record from this area, this text will interest archaeologists working in the Southwest and in Neolithic societies around the world as well as anyone applying modeling techniques to understanding how human societies shape, and are shaped by the environments we inhabit. Contents Preface and Acknowledgments Contributors 1. EMERGENCE AND COLLAPSE OF EARLY VILLAGES IN THE CENTRAL MESA VERDE: AN INTRODUCTION 2. THE STUDY AREA AND THE ANCESTRAL PUEBLO OCCUPATION 3. LOW- FREQUENCY CLIMATE IN THE MESA VERDE REGION: BEEF PASTURE REVISITED 4. SIMULATION MODEL OVERVIEW 5. MODELING PALEOHYDROLOGICAL SYSTEM STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION 6. MODELING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY AND FARMING EFFORT 7. MODELING PLANT AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIVITY AND FUEL USE 8. SUPPLY, DEMAND, RETURN RATES, AND RESOURCE DEPRESSION: HUNTING IN THE VILLAGE ECODYNAMICS WORLD 9. HOW HUNTING CHANGES THE VEP WORLD, AND HOW THE VEP WORLD CHANGES HUNTING 10. EXERCISING THE MODEL: ASSESSING CHANGES IN SETTLEMENT LOCATION AND EFFICIENCY 11. SIMULATING HOUSE HOLD EXCHANGE WITH CULTURAL ALGORITHMS 12. TOOL-STONE PROCUREMENT IN THE MESA VERDE CORE REGION THROUGH TIME 13. POPULATION DYNAMICS AND WARFARE IN THE CENTRAL MESA VERDE REGION 14. CHARACTERIZING COMMUNITY- CENTER (VILLAGE) FORMATION IN THE VEP STUDY AREA, A.D. 600–1280 15. THE RISE AND COLLAPSE OF VILLAGES IN THE CENTRAL MESA VERDE REGION Appendix A Appendix B Notes on Contributors Index Comparing simulations from agent-based models with the precisely dated archaeological record from this area, this text will interest archaeologists working in the Southwest and in Neolithic studies as well as anyone applying modelling techniques to understanding how human societies shape, and are shaped by the environment Comparing simulations from agent-based models with the precisely dated archaeological record from this area, this text will interest archaeologists working in the Southwest and in Neolithic studies as well as anyone applying modeling techniques to understanding how human societies shapes, and are shaped by the environment Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book examines how climate change, population size, interpersonal conflict, resource depression, and changing social organization contribute to explaining the dramatic shifts in the central Mesa Verde region of Southwest Colorado, from the mid-AD 1000s until 1280.