Zuni Demographic Structure, A.D. 1300-1680: A Case Study on Spanish Contact and Native Population Dynamics (original) (raw)
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Long-Term Settlement History and the Emergence of Towns in the Zuni Area
American Antiquity, 2004
From a regional perspective, the late thirteenth-century aggregation of village populations into large towns in the northern Southwest appears to be a brief and dramatic episode of social reorganization. That it is apparent across such a range of cultural and ecological circumstances suggests that a regional perspective will be needed to understand why it occurred.
The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast, edited by David G. Anderson and Kenneth E. Sassaman, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa., 1996
Resolving the lifeways of the first Americans entails the recovery and interpretation of information about a range of phenomena, including settlement and mobility strategies, subsistence pursuits, information exchange and mating networks, technological organization, burial customs, and the whole host of behaviors that make up archaeologically recoverable human culture. The material remains from the Paleoindian and Early Archaic periods, however, are comparatively few and far between when compared with the assemblages left by later peoples, and with rare exceptions, the preservation of perishables is minimal. To complicate matters, there are no ethno~aphic analogues to help us understand how preagricultural human populations colonized continental land masses the magnitude of North and South America, which were themselves characterized by climates and ecosystems lacking modem analogues. Understanding the initial human occupation of the New World, including the area we now know as the southeastern United States, is thus a supremely interesting challenge facing archaeologists, and in this volume, we are seeing how this challenge has b~n met. Here I will briefly recount some recent models that have been developed to interpret and explain the Paleoindian and Early Archaic archaeological record in the Eastern Woodlands, with particular attention to those of relevance in the Southern Appalachian area. The review proceeds from models that are broad in scale and scope, to more focused efforts dealing with smaller areas or subsets of the overall record. It also proceeds diachronically, from earlier to later in time, in acknowledgment of the marked changes that are evident over the roughly 3,5QO-year interval under examination. PALEOINDIAN COLONIZATION MODELS Regardless of whether one accepts the evidence for earlier occupation-' for the so-called pre-Clovis or preprojectile point horizons-there is little
National Historic Landmarks Theme Study, National Park Service, Washington D.C, 2004
This study is based on the evidence of archeology and it therefore concentrates on the recoverable, physical remains of human, geological, technological, and environmental processes. When human beings reached the Americas is currently unknown, but permanent settlement, by populations that survived, multiplied, and spread over the landscape, is currently believed to be prior to 13,500 years ago. Archeologists use three broad temporal and cultural periods to describe the Earliest American sites and assemblages: Initial Human Occupation (> ca. 13,450 B.P.), Widespread Settlement: Clovis and Related Assemblages (ca. 13,450-12,900 B.P.), and Terminal Paleoindian Occupations (ca. 12,900-11,200 B.P.). These are the time periods used in this document (see below under Chronological Considerations). Table 1. A Timescale for Eastern Paleoindian Assemblages Calendar BP Radiocarbon rcbp Occupations Northeastern Developments Midwestern Developments Southeastern Developments Climatic Event
The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast, edited by David G. Anderson and Kenneth E. Sassaman, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa., 1996
The second part of this volume contains chapters describing the Paleoindian and Early Archaic archaeological record across the lower Southeast. Awareness of this record is essential if we are to develop re gional-scale models of Paleoindian and Early Archaic prehistory. While the papers that follow document appreciable variation in the content, distribution, and structure of Paleoindian and Early Archaic assemblages across the Southeast, they also illustrate the expansive geographic scale of the cultural systems that existed during these times, and the cultural interaction and integration that occurred over large areas. A regional per spective is thus essential if we are to understand the Southeast's earliest inhabitants, and if we are to have the informed theoretical perspective necessary to collect the kinds of information required to articulate large scale models of human ecology, settlement organization, and sociopolitical integration. As Henry Wright observes (chapter 24, this volume), Paleoindian and Early Archaic populations certainly did not abide by the political boundaries we have imposed on the landscape, so we have no justification for limiting our data collection and modeling efforts to such constraining geographic parameters. OVERCOMING GEOGRAPHIC AND THEORETICAL PAROCHIALISM Macroregional or even continental perspectives on prehistory in North America can be traced to the very beginnings of modem archaeology. In the mid-to late nineteenth century, for instance, scholars embroiled in controversy over the origin of the Mound Builders found it necessary to conduct large-scale studies to support their points of view (e.g., Squier and Davis 1848; C. Thomas 1894). Similarl y, the question of the antiquity of human settlement in the New World spawned a number of projects to examine evidence from across the hemisphere.
The Problem of the Settlement of the Americas: Old and New Objectives and Approaches
The problem of the driving forces behind the " Great Migration " has led to many unanswered research issues: this topic of study has developed a complex historiography of its own; identification of genetic and cultural belonging of the early migrant groups is scarce; how they formed a new cultural space with the pioneering of new territories in not understood; nor do we understand much about how their languages and communication developed; how they developed new technologies and innovations in practice; or how they constructed artificial habitats (architectural and ecological). Finally, there is the problem of integral development of and anthroposystem and integration in it of new experiences of passive and active adaptation technologies. In this chapter, I will briefly discuss the historiography of the problem and then present a novel anthroposystemic model for analysis. Migration and especially the Great Migration is a mechanism of " building bridges " between regions, territories, ethnic groups, and cultures. The earliest population of the Americas is of particular interest for the understanding of these processes, in conjunction with the consideration of a long historical and geographical isolation of the New World, allowing researchers to develop models for early modern human (Homo sapiens) adaptions to harsh environmental conditions. As an inter-and multidisciplinary problem, research into the peopling of the New World requires the involvement of different scientific fields: The historiography of the problem shows that various researchers attempted to solve it by employing all of these different approaches in the past. Unfortunately, direct archaeological data has been insufficient due to the simple fact that the further back in time we look, the smaller the percentage of remaining material traces of culture archaeologists find (especially organic remains). It is logical to assume that the lack of traces of humans from this time period does not mean that they never existed. In this case, we must implement a research model, based on different types of " non-archaeological " reconstruction. That is why researchers have always addressed and continue to address methods that utilize modern data sets as ethnographic analogies, such as linguistic analysis, historical comparative analysis, and comparative studies of spiritual concepts, traditional ecological knowledge systems, and ethnohistoric comparisons of technologies in small-scale societies.
Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics: A Global Perspective on Mid-Holocene Transitions, edited by David G. Anderson, Kirk A. Maasch, and Daniel H. Sandweiss. Academic Press, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. , 2007
The Middle Archaic period in the Southeast, corresponding to the Mid-Holocene era, from 8000 to 5000 14C yr BP (ca. 8900–5750 cal yr BP) is a time of appreciable culture change. During this interval monumental construction began in a number of areas, long-distance exchange networks emerged, evidence for warfare appeared, and experimentation with agriculture was initiated. These trends continued and accelerated during the ensuing Late Archaic, and it was at the very start of this period, soon after 5000 14C yr BP (ca. 5750 cal yr BP), that pottery appeared. Variability is evident in the size and complexity of southeastern Middle Archaic societies, something that appears linked to changes in population interaction, climate, and resource structure. During the Mid-Holocene, use of the southeastern Coastal Plain decreased dramatically, and extensive use of shellfish resources appeared for the first time along the major rivers of the interior and in coastal areas. With the onset of essentially modern climate and resource structure after 5000 14C yr BP (ca. 5750 cal yr BP), a dramatic increase in regional population levels is indicated.