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The Depopulation of Sand Canyon Pueblo, A Large Ancestral Pueblo Village in Southwestern Colorado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kristin A. Kuckelman*
Affiliation:
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, 23390 Road K, Cortez, Colorado 81321-9408 (kkuckelman@crowcanyon.org)

Abstract

Archaeologists in the Mesa Verde region of the American Southwest have long sought the catalysts of the complete depopulation of the region by Pueblo farmers in the late thirteenth century. Ten years of excavations by the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center at Sand Canyon Pueblo, a large village that was occupied from approximately A.D. 1250 to 1280, yielded abundant data regarding the depopulation of the village and shed new light on causes of this intriguing regional emigration. Comparative analyses of faunal and archaeobotanical remains from middens vs. abandonment assemblages reveal a shift from farming to hunting and gathering that coincided with the onset of the Great Drought about A.D. 1276. Osteological and taphonomic analyses of human remains found in abandonment contexts reveal details of an attack during which many residents were killed and that ended the occupation of the village. These findings from Sand Canyon Pueblo suggest that climate-induced food stress and consequent violent conflict contributed to the depopulation of the Mesa Verde region in the late A.D. 1200s.

Resumen

Resumen

Durante mucho tiempo, los arqueólogos han buscado los principales motivos por los cuales los agricultores Pueblo abandonaron la región de Mesa Verde en el suroeste de los Estados Unidos a finales del siglo XIII. Durante una década, los investigadores del Centro Arqueológico Crow Canyon realizaron excavaciones en el Pueblo Sand Canyon, una aldea grande que fue ocupada aproximadamente de 1250 a 1280 d.C. Estos estudios proporcionaron abundante información sobre la despoblación y aclararon las causas de la intrigante emigración regional. Análisis comparativos de los restos de flora y fauna recuperados de depósitos de basura y de contextos de abandono evidencian un cambio de agricultura hacia cazar y juntar que coincide con el comienzo de la Gran Sequía cerca de 1276 d.C. Análisis osteológico y tafonómico de los restos humanos recuperados de contextos de abandono revelan detalles de un ataque durante el cual se murieron muchos residentes, dando fin a la ocupación de la aldea. Los resultados de los estudios del Pueblo Sand Canyon sugieren que tanto la escasez de comida ocasionada por cambios en el clima como el conflicto violento que resultó contribuyeron a la despoblación de la región de Mesa Verde a finales de los años 1200 d.C.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2010

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