A Comparative Synthesis of Depopulation in the North American Southwest, 1100 to 1450

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Attention to Detail: A Pragmatic Career of Research, Mentoring, and Service, Papers in Honor of Keith Kintigh" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Given the urgency of local to global sustainability problems, archaeologists must make progress toward understanding and interpreting for the public and policymakers the dramatic population declines that occurred in the North American Southwest during the 12th through 15th centuries. Southwestern-scale syntheses that seek insights beyond the particularities of our sub-regional interests and expertise are rare but have the potential to generate insights beyond the Southwestern past for the future. This presentation offers the first results of a systematic cross-case comparative study of the initial conditions of demographic decline (collapse) throughout the Southwest. Initial conditions investigated include the extent of conflict, resource depletion, demography, immigration, inequality and other variables that are often considered causal factors of depopulation. The aim of the presentation is to demonstrate the potential of Southwest-scale comparative studies, to generate hypotheses for more specific testing, and to provide one example of synthetic analyses Keith Kintigh and others have recently advocated "to advance science and benefit society."

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Attention to Detail: A Pragmatic Career of Research, Mentoring, and Service, Papers in Honor of Keith Kintigh   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23877