The Impact of Late Classic–Early Postclassic Anthropogenic Landscape Change in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Previous geomorphological data from the upper drainage basin of the Río Verde suggest that demographic and land-use changes, perhaps coupled with climate change, during the Classic period collapse (ca. 800 CE) increased erosion and sediment entering the drainage system. Recent geomorphological research in the lower reaches of the Río Verde in the Pacific coastal lowlands was designed to examine whether the changes in the drainage system effected floodplain environments. Previous geomorphological research showed that the lower Verde exhibited a braided morphology at the time of the collapse. Increased sediment load and runoff resulting from anthropogenic landscape change in the highlands would have increased channel migration, flooding, and alluviation and accentuated the braided morphology of the river. Recent soil augering on both sides of the Río Verde provide greater detail on the presence of both relict oxbow lakes and abandoned braided channels in the floodplain. In this paper we present our findings with spatial and temporal details that explore changing floodplain environments during the collapse of the Late Classic polity of Río Viejo. We consider the implications of our data for changes in agriculture and settlement on the floodplain with a focus on the urban center of Río Viejo.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36842.0