Survey in the York-Duncan Valley, Arizona: Understanding Patterns of Mogollon Population Aggregation and Dispersal

Summary

This research project examines prehistoric population aggregation and abandonment processes by analyzing how communities in Arizona’s York-Duncan Valley nucleated, and then dispersed in or abandoned the region from the end of the Early Agricultural period to the Salado period. The Upper Gila River Valley offers a unique opportunity to understand these dynamics. The research explores the interplay of ecological and demographic pressures within a resilience theoretical framework. I suggest that community aggregation initially offered competitive advantages which enhanced social robustness, but eventually introduced social and ecological vulnerabilities. This hypothesis will be evaluated, in part, by the survey and recording of sites in the understudied York-Duncan Valley. Survey will focus on agriculturally productive locales most likely to have hosted prehistoric groups, based in part on results from two Geospatial Information System predictive models for prehistoric habitation in the York-Duncan Valley. Variables include a variety of ecological factors and settlement patterns from Early Agricultural to late prehistoric periods in the Mimbres, northern Rio Grande, and Upper Gila River Valleys. Model outputs are then compared to known prehistoric sites in the study area in order to evaluate the methodology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• A Flurry of Field Schools in the Upper Gila and Mimbres Drainages   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15372