The Effects of Sedentism and Increased Agricultural Production on Migratory Bird Flyways: A Case Study from the American Southwest

Summary

This is an abstract from the "HumAnE Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Recent studies in avian biology have highlighted the plasticity of avian migratory flyways and location of wintering grounds for a range of taxa in response to agricultural production. This research provides a test of these studies to assess if pre-contact migrations in the American Southwest could have caused a shift in the wintering grounds of migratory birds along the Rio Grande Flyway. Prior to the 13th century, Puebloan farmers residing along in the Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico resided in small, dispersed hamlets. Crop production appears to have been limited primarily to gardens. Towards the end of the 13th century, the Middle Rio Grande Valley saw a significant increase in Puebloan farmers migrating into the Albuquerque valley and settling on the Rio Grande floodplain in communal structures with up to 1,200 rooms. This shift in settlement patterns resulted in one of the densest concentrations of people and agricultural fields in the Eastern Pueblo region. This research will demonstrate how this change in settlement patterns resulted in a significant shift in the wintering grounds of birds long the Rio Grande Flyway.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• HumAnE Archaeology

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23741