Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T19:38:07.565Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Impacts of Climatic Variabiity and Population Growth on Virgin Branch Anasazi Cultural Developments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Daniel O. Larson  and
Joel Michaelsen
Daniel O. Larson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, California State University, Long Beach, CA 90840-5802
Joel Michaelsen
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two major drought episodes, A.D. 1000 to 1015 and A.D. 1120 to 1150, contributed to significant change in adaptive strategies of the Virgin Branch Anasazi, a prehistoric population that occupied the southwestern Great Basin between A.D. 100 and A.D. 1150. The first extreme climatic event promoted the adoption of several alternative buffering strategies including intensive agricultural practices, increased reliance on storage, and the organization of large residential labor groups. The second drought, which followed 150 years of favorable climatic conditions and high levels of population growth, had a devastating impact upon the Virgin Branch Anasazi resulting in the complete abandonment of the southwestern Great Basin by that group. These two climatic events required entirely different responses, which suggest that shifts in climate are best viewed as triggering culture change. The preconditions of population growth set the various levels of sensitivity to extreme climatic events and determine the precise nature of the culture changes.

Résumé

Résumé

Dos episodios mayores de sequedad, de 100 to 1015 D.C. y de 1120 a 1150 D.C., contribuyeron a un cambio importante en estrategias adaptivas de los Virgin Branch Anasazi, un grupo prehistórico lo cual se ocupó la gran cuenca entre 100 y 1150 D.C. El primer evento climático promovió la adopción de algunas estrategias amortiguadores alternativas, los cuales se incluyeron la agricultura intensa, el uso aumentado de espacio para almacenar, y la organización (para trabajar) de grandes grupos residentiales. El segundo episodio de sequedad, lo cual seguió una temporado de clima benigno que duro 150 años y niveles aumentados en la población, apretó fuerte los Virgin Branch Anasazi. Este resultó en el abandono del parte sudoeste de la gran cuenca por aquel grupo. Estos dos episodios necesitaron resupuestas muy diferentes, sugeriendo que se pueda ver mas claramente los desviaciones de clima como mechanismos de dispara para el cambio de cultura. Los prerequisitos para el aumento de poblacion determinan los varios niveles de sensitividad a los episodios climaticos que son muy extremos, y tambien determinan el carácter preciso de los cambios culturales.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , April 1990 , pp. 227 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Aikens, C. M. 1965 Excavations in Southwest Utah. Anthropological Papers 76. University of Utah, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Aikens, C. M. 1966 Virgin-Kayenta Cultural Relationships. Anthropological Paper 79. University of Utah, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Bettinger, R. L., and BaumhofF, M. A. 1982 The Numic Spread : Great Basin Cultures in Competition. American Antiquity 47 : 485–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1983 In Pursuit of the Past. Thames and Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Box, G. E. P., and Jenkins, G. M. 1976 Time Series Analysis Forecasting and Control. Holden-Day, San Francisco. Google Scholar
Burns, B. T. 1983 Simulated Anasazi Storage Behavior Using Crop Yields Reconstructed from Tree-rings : A. D. 652-1968. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Arizona. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Clark, D. J., and Brandt, S. A. 1984 From Hunters to Farmers : The Causes and Consequences of Food Production in Africa. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Clark, J. W. 1982 Prehistoric Settlement in the Moapa Valley. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Google Scholar
Cohen, M. N. 1977 The Food Crisis in Prehistory. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Colson, E. 1979 In Good Years and in Bad : Food Strategies of Self-reliant Societies. Journal of Anthropological Research 35 : 18–29.Google Scholar
Colton, H. S. 1936 The Rise and Fall of the Prehistoric Population of Northern Arizona. Science 84 : 337–343.Google Scholar
Colton, H. S. 1952 Pottery Types of the Arizona Strip and Adjacent Areas in Utah and Nevada. Ceramic Series 1. Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff.Google Scholar
Cordell, L. S. 1984 Prehistory of the Southwest. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Dean, J. S. 1978 Independent Dating in Archaeological Analysis. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 1, edited by Schif Fer, M. B., pp. 223–314. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Dean, J. S. 1985 Review of Time, Space, and Transition in Anasazi Prehistory , by Berry, M. S.. American Antiquity 50 : 704–705.Google Scholar
Dean, J. S. 1988 A Model of Anasazi Behavioral Adaptation. In The Anasazi in a Changing Environment, edited by Gummerman, G. J., pp. 25–44. School of American Research, Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Dean, J. S., Euler, R. C., Gummerman, G. J., Plog, F., Hevly, R. H., and Karlstrom, T. N. V. 1985 Human Behavior, Demography, and Paleoenvironment on the Colorado Plateaus. American Antiquity 50 : 537–554.Google Scholar
de Garine, I., and Harrison, G. A. 1988. Coping with Uncertainty in Food Supply. Clarendon Press, Oxford, England.Google Scholar
Dirks, R. 1980 Social Responses During Severe Food Shortage and Famine. Current Anthropology 21 : 21–44.Google Scholar
Drew, L. G. 1972 Tree-ring Chronologies of Western America, HI, California and Nevada. Chronology Series 1. Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Earle, T. 1980 A Model of Subsistence Change. In Modeling Change in Prehistoric Subsistence Economies, edited by Earle, T. and Christenson, A., pp. 1–26. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Euler, R. C, Gummerman, G. J., Karlstrom, T. N. V., Dean, J. S., and Hevly, R. H. 1979 The Colorado Plateaus : Cultural Dynamics and Paleoenvironment. Science 205 : 1089–1101.Google Scholar
Fowler, D. D., and Aikens, C. M. 1963 1961 Excavations, Kaiparowits Plateau, Utah. Anthropological Papers 66. University of Utah, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Fritts, H. C. 1976 Tree Rings and Climate. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Gilman, P. A. 1983 Changing Architectural Forms in the Prehistoric Southwest. Unpubished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Google Scholar
Glassow, M. A. 1977 Population Aggregation and Systematic Change : Examples from the American Southwest. In Explanation of Prehistoric Organizational Change, edited by Hill, J. N., pp. 185–214. School of American Research, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Glassow, M. A. 1978 The Concept of Carrying Capacity in the Study of Cultural Process. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 1, edited by Schiffer, M. B., pp. 31–48. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Glassow, M. A. 1980 Prehistoric Agricultural Development in the Northern Southwest : A Study in Changing Patterns of Land Use. Anthropological Paper 16. Ballena Press, Socorro, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Glassow, M. A. 1984 Explaining variations in agricultural settlement systems in Northeastern New Mexico. In Prehistoric Agricultural Strategies in the Southwest, edited by Fish, S. K. and Fish, P. R., pp. 199–214. Anthropological Research Papers 33. Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Gummerman, G. J. (editor) 1988 The Anasazi in a Changing Environment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.Google Scholar
Hantman, J. L. 1983 Social Networks and Stylistic Distributions in the Prehistoric Plateau Southwest. Ph. D. dissertation, Arizona State University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Hantman, J. L., and Lightfoot, K. 1978 The Analysis of Ceramic Design : A New Method for Chronological Seriation. In An Analytical Approach to Cultural Resource Management : The Little Colorado Planning Unit, edited by Plog, F., pp. 38–56. Anthropological Research Paper 13. Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Hassan, F. A. 1981 Demographic Archaeology. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hitchcock, R. K. 1979 The Traditional Response to Drought in Botswana. In Proceedings of the Symposium on Drought in Botswana, edited by Hinchey, M. T., pp. 91–97. Clark University Press, Hanover, New Hampshire. Google Scholar
Hitchcock, R. K. 1982 The Enth noarchaeology ofSedentism : Mobility Strategies and Site Structure Among Foraging and Food Producing Populations in the Eastern Kahalari, Botswana. Ph. D. dissertation, University of New Mexico. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Holmes, R. L., Stockton, C. W., and Marche, V. C. La Jr. 1982 Extension of River Flow Records in Argentina. In Climate from Tree Rings, edited by Hughes, M. K., Kelly, P. M., Pilcher, J. R., and La Marche, V. C. Jr., pp. 168–170. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.Google Scholar
Hunt, C. B. 1967 Physiography of the United States. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco. Google Scholar
Jenkins, D. L. 1981 Cliff's Edge : A Pueblo I Site on the Lower Virgin River. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Google Scholar
Jochim, M. A. 1981 Strategies for Survival : Cultural Behavior in an Ecological Context. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Johnson, A. W., and Earle, T. 1987 The Evolution of Human Societies : From Foraging Group to Agrarian State. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
La Marche, V. C Jr. 1974 Paleoclimatic Inferences from Long Tree-ring Records. Science 183 : 1043–1048.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, A. K. 1946 Agricultural Pioneering in the Virgin River Basin. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of History, Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Larson, D. O. 1981 A Study of the Settlement Patterns of Southern Nevada as Reflected by the Archaeological Record. Western Anasazi Reports 3(1). Museum of Southern Utah, Southern Utah State College, Cedar City.Google Scholar
Larson, D. O. 1987 An Economic Analysis of the Differential Effects of Population Growth and Climatic Variability Among Hunters and Gatherers and Food Producers. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara.Google Scholar
Layhe, R. W. 1981 A Locational Model for Demographic and Settlement System Change : An Example from the American Southwest. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Lee, R. B. 1979 The IKung San : Men, Women, and Work in a Foraging Society. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.Google Scholar
Lyneis, M. M. 1980 Pueblo Grande de Nevada : Residual Archaeology of the Main Ridge Locality. Submitted to the U. S. Department of the Interior, Water and Power Resource Service, Boulder City, Nevada.Google Scholar
Lyneis, M. M. 1982 Prehistory in the Southern Great Basin. In Man and the Environment in the Great Basin, edited by Madsen, D. B. and F, J.. Connell, O., pp. 172–185. SAA Papers No. 2. Society for American Archaeology, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Lyneis, M. M. 1986 A Spatial Analysis of Anasazi Architecture A. D. 950-1150, Moapa Valley, Nevada. Kiva 52 : 53–74.Google Scholar
Maclachlan, M. D. 1983 Why They Did Not Starve : Biocultural Adaptation in a South Indian Village. Institute for the Study of Human Issues, Philadelphia. Google Scholar
Madsen, D. B. 1975 Dating Paiute-Shoshone Expansion in the Great Basin. American Antiquity 40 : 82–86.Google Scholar
McGuire, R. H., and Schiffer, M. B. (editors) 1982 Hohokam and Patayan. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Michaelsen, J. C. 1987 Cross-Validation in Climate Forecast Models. Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology 26 : 1589-1600.Google Scholar
Michaelsen, J. C, Haston, L., and Davis, F. W. 1987 400 Years of Central California Precipitation Variability Reconstructed from Tree-rings. Water Resources Bulletin 23 : 809–818.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minnis, P. E. 1985 Social Adaptation to Food Stress : A Prehistoric Southwestern Example. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Mosteller, F., and Tukey, J. W. 1977 Data Analysis and Regression : A Second Course in Statistics. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts. Google Scholar
Olson, K. 1979 An Attribute Analysis of Muddy River Ceramics. Western Anasazi Reports 2 : 303–365.Google Scholar
Nelson, B. A. 1980 Cultural Responses to Population Change : A Comparison of Two Prehistoric Occupations of the Mimbres Valley, New Mexico. Ph. D. dissertation, Southern Illinois University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Noy-Meir, I. 1973 Desert Ecosystems : Environment and Producers. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 4 : 25–51.Google Scholar
Pierson, L. 1949 The Prehistoric Population of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico : A Study in Methods and Techniques of Prehistoric Population Estimation. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Google Scholar
Plog, F. T. 1974 The Study of Prehistoric Change. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Plog, F. T. 1975 Demographic Studies in Southwestern Prehistory. American Antiquity 40 : 94–103.Google Scholar
Plog, S. (editor) 1986 Spatial Organization and Exchange : Archaeological Survey on Northern Black Mesa. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Plog, S., and Hantman, J. L. 1986 Multiple Regression Analysis as a Dating Method in the American Southwest. In Spatial Organization and Exchange : Archaeological Survey on Northern Black Mesa, edited by Plog, S., pp. 87–113. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Powell, S. L. 1980 Material Culture and Behavior : A Prehistoric Example for the American Southwest. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Schacht, R. M. 1981 Estimating Past Population Trends. Annual Reviews of Anthropology 10 : 119–140.Google Scholar
Schwartz, D. W., Chapman, R. C., and Kepp, J. 1980 Archaeology of the Grand Canyon : Unkar Delta. Grand Canyon Archaeology Series 2. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Schwartz, D. W., Kepp, J., and Chapman, R. C. 1981 Archaeology of the Grand Canyon : The Walhalla Plateau. Grand Canyon Archaeology Series 3. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Scuderi, L. A. 1984 A Dendroclimatic and Geomorphic Investigation of Late-Holocene Glaciation, Southern Sierra Nevada, California. Ph. D. dissertation, University of California. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Shutler, R. Jr. 1961 Lost City : Pueblo Grande de Nevada. Anthropological Papers 5. Nevada State Museum, Carson City. Google Scholar
Steward, J. H. 1955 Theory of Culture Change. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Stockton, C. W. 1971 The Feasibility of Augmenting Hydrologic Records Using Tree-ring Data. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Stockton, C. W. 1975 Long-term Streamflow Records Reconstructed from Tree Rings. Papers of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research 5. University of Arizona, Tucson. Google Scholar
Stockton, C. W., and Boggess, W. R. 1980 Augmentation of Hydrologic Records Using Tree Rings. In Improved Hydrologic Forecasting, edited by Henry, W. P., pp. 239–265. American Society of Civil Engineers, New York.Google Scholar
Stockton, C. W., and Fritts, H. C. 1971 Augmenting Annual Runoff Records Using Tree-ring Data. Hydrology and Water Resources in Arizona and the Southwest 1 : 1–12.Google Scholar
Stockton, C. W., and Jacoby, G. C. 1976 Long-term Surface Water Supply and Streamflow Levels in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Lake Powell Research Project Bulletin 18. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles. Google Scholar
Stockton, C. W., and Meko, D. M. 1975 A Long-term History of Drought Occurrence in Western United States as Inferred from Tree Rings. Weatherwise 28 : 244–249.Google Scholar
Taylor, R. E. 1985 The Beginning of Radiocarbon Dating in American Antiquity : An Historical Perspective. American Antiquity 50 : 309–325.Google Scholar
Taylor, R. E. 1987 Radiocarbon Dating : An Archaeological Perspective. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. H. 1981 Complexity Among Great Basin Shoshoneans : The World's Least Affluent Hunter-Gatherers? In Affluent Foragers : Pacific Coast East and West, edited by Koyama, S. and Thomas, D. H., pp. 19–52. Senri Ethnological Studies 9. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. H. 1979 Hot Desert Grazing Environmental Statement. U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Voss, J. A. 1980 Tribal Emergence During the Neolithic of Northwestern Europe. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Michigan. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Whalen, M. E. 1981 Cultural-Ecological Aspects of the Pithouse-to-Pueblo Transition in a Portion of the Southwest. American Antiquity 46 : 75–92.Google Scholar
White, L. A. 1959 The Evolution of Culture. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Winterhalder, B. 1980 Environmental Analysis in Human Evolution and Adaptation Research. Human Ecology 8 : 135–170. Zubrow, E. B. W. (editor)Google Scholar
Winterhalder, B. 1976 Demographic Anthropology : Quantitative Approaches. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Zubrow, E. B. W. (editor) 1976 Demographic Anthropology: Quantitative Approaches. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar