Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T21:37:23.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Resource Specialization, Population Growth, and Agricultural Production in the American Southwest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert D. Leonard
Robert D. Leonard*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The prehistoric period of the northern American Southwest is characterized by increased population, increased agricultural production, and regional depopulation. Most current models of evolutionary change that attempt to explain these phenomena are defined at the scale of "culture" or of a specific adaptation, e.g., "Anasazi adaptive system." I suggest that for most purposes these are not productive constructs, and that their application makes useful explanations difficult, if not impossible to formulate. As a further liability, these models ignore the role of natural selection as an explanatory mechanism, preferring instead to seek explanation through the premature application of the concept of adaptation. The application of a selectionist perspective, as opposed to the more popular adaptationist model, leads to the conclusion that the operation of natural selection favoring productive specialization accounts for the characteristics noted above for the prehistoric American Southwest.

Résumé

Résumé

La época prehistórica en el sudoeste norteamericano está caracterizada por aumentos en la producción agricola, aumentos generates en la población, pero tambien casos de despoblación subregiónal. La mayoría de los patrones modernos de cambio evoluciónario que intentan explicar estos fenómenos han sido construidos a nivel de una "cultura" o de una adaptación específica, por ejemplo, "el sistema adaptivo de la cultura Anasazi." Yo sugiero que estas entidades no son generalmente productivas, y que su empleo hace dificle o imposible la formulación de explicaciones útiles. Y además, estos patrones desconocen la función de la selección natural como un mecanismo explicativo. Al emplear estos patrones, se pretende hallar ciertas explicaciones que emplean de manera prematura el concepto de la adaptación. El empleo de una perspectiva selecciónista, en contraste con el patron adaptaciónista más popular, resulta en la conclusión de que el funciónamiento de la selección natural quefavorece la especialición productiva, explica las características del sudoeste prehistórico americano descritos al comienzo.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , July 1989 , pp. 491 - 503
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Berry, M. S. 1985 The Age of Maize in the Greater Southwest : A Critical Review. In Prehistoric Food Production in North America, edited by Ford, R. I., pp. 279–308. Anthropological Papers No. 75. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1983 In Pursuit of the Past. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Boserup, E. 1965 The Conditions of Agricultural Growth : The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure. Aldine-Atherton, Chicago.Google Scholar
Braun, D. P., and Plog, S. 1982 Evolution of “Tribal” Social Networks : Theory and Prehistoric North American Evidence. American Antiquity 47 : 504–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christenson, A. L. 1980 Change in the Human Niche in Response to Population Growth. In Modeling Change in Prehistoric Subsistence Economies, edited by Earle, T. and Christenson, A.L., pp. 31–72. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Cody, M. 1974 Optimization in Ecology. Science 183 : 1156–1164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, M. N. 1977 The Food Crisis in Prehistory : Overpopulation and the Origins of Agriculture. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Cordell, L. S. 1984 Prehistory of the Southwest. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Cowgill, G. L. 1964 The End of Classic Maya Culture : A Review of Recent Evidence. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 20 : 145–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Culbert, T. P. 1974 The Lost Civilization : The Story of the Classic Maya. Harper and Row, New York.Google Scholar
Dean, J. S., Euler, R. C., Gumerman, G. J., Plog, F., Hevly, R. H., and Karlstrom, T. N. V. 1985 Human Behavior, Demography, and Paleoenvironment on the Colorado Plateaus. American Antiquity 50 : 537–554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doebley, J. F. 1981 Plant Remains Recovered by Flotation from Trash at Salmon Ruin, New Mexico. The Kiva 46 : 169–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunnell, R. C. 1980 Evolutionary Theory and Archaeology. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 3, edited by Schiffer, M. B., pp. 35–99. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emlen, J. M. 1966 The Role of Time and Energy in Food Preference. The American Naturalist 100 : 611–617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fish, S. K., and Fish, P. R. (editors) 1984 Prehistoric Agricultural Strategies in the Southwest. Anthropological Research Paper No. 33. Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Ford, R. I. 1981 Gardening and Farming Before A. D. 1000 : Patterns of Prehistoric Cultivation North of Mexico. Journal of Ethnobiology 1 : 6–27.Google Scholar
Ford, R. I. 1984 Ecological Consequences of Early Agriculture in the Southwest. In Papers on the Archaeology of Black Mesa Arizona, vol. II, edited by Plog, S. and Powell, S., pp. 127–138. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Gasser, R. E. 1982 The Coronado Project Archaeological Investigations : The Specialist's Volume : Biocultural Analyses. Research Paper 23, Coronado Series 4. Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff.Google Scholar
Gilman, P. A. 1983 Changing Architectural Forms in the American Southwest. Ph. D. dissertation, University of New Mexico. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Gould, S. J., and Lewontin, R. 1979 The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm : A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B205 : 581–598.Google Scholar
Grayson, D. K. 1981 The Effects of Sample Size on Some Derived Measures in Vertebrate Faunal Analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science 8 : 77–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grayson, D. K. 1984 Quantitative Zooarchaeology : Topics in the Analysis of Archaeological Faunas. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hemple, C. 1959 The Logic of Functional Analysis. In Symposium of Sociological Theory, edited by Gross, L., pp. 271–307. Row, Peterson, New York.Google Scholar
Jones, G. T., Beck, C., and Grayson, D. K. 1983 Artifact Class Richness and Sample Size in Archaeological Surface Assemblages. In Lulu Linear Punctated : Essays in Honor of George Irving Quimby, edited by Dunnell, R. C. and Grayson, D. K., pp. 55–73. Anthropological Papers 72. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Kintigh, K. W. 1984 Measuring Archaeological Diversity by Comparison with Simulated Assemblages. American Antiquity 49 : 44–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirch, P. V. 1980 The Archaeological Study of Adaptation : Theoretical and Methodological Issues. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 3, pp. 101–156, edited by Schiffer, M. B.. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krebs, J. R. 1978 Optimal Foraging : Decision Rules for Predators. In Behavioral Ecology : An Evolutionary Approach, edited by Krebs, J. R. and Davies, N. B., pp. 23–63. Blackwell Scientific Publications, London.Google Scholar
Leonard, R. D. 1986 Patterns ofAnasazi Subsistence : Faunal Exploitation, Subsistence Diversification, and Site Function in Northeastern Arizona. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Washington. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Leonard, R. D., and Jones, G. T. 1987 Elements of an Inclusive Evolutionary Model for Archaeology. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 6 : 199–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levins, R., and Lewontin, R. 1985 The Dialectical Biologist. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Lewontin, R. 1977 Sociobiology—A Caricature of Darwinism. Proceedings of the 1976 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, vol. 2, edited by Suppe, F. and Azquith, T. D., pp. 22–31.Google Scholar
Mac Arthur, R. H., and Pianka, E. R. 1966 On Optimal Use of a Patchy Environment. The American Naturalist 100 : 603–609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayr, E. 1988 Toward a New Philosophy of Biology : Observations of an Evolutionist. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Minnis, P. E. 1985 Social Adaptation to Food Stress : A Prehistoric Southwestern Example. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
O. Brien, M. J. 1987 Sedentism, Population Growth, and Resource Selection in the Woodland Midwest : A Review of Coevolutionary Developments. Current Anthropology 28 : 177–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O. Brien, M. J., and Holland, T. D. 1990 Variation, Selection, and the Archaeological Record. In Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 2, edited by Schiffer, M. B.. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, in press.Google Scholar
Plog, S. 1986 Spatial Organization and Exchange : Archaeological Survey on Northern Black Mesa. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Powell, S. 1983 Mobility and Adaptation : The Anasazi of Black Mesa, Arizona. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Rindos, D. 1984 The Origins of Agriculture : An Evolutionary Perspective. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Rindos, D. 1985 Darwinian Selection, Symbolic Variation, and the Evolution of Culture. Current Anthropology 26 : 65–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rindos, D. 1986 The Evolution of the Capacity for Culture : Sociobiology, Structuralism, and Cultural Selection. Current Anthropology 27 : 315–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sabloff, J. A., and Willey, G. R. 1967 The Collapse of Maya Civilization in the Southern Lowlands : A Consideration of History and Process. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 23 : 311–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimkin, D. 1973 Models of the Downfall : Some Ecological and Culture-historical Considerations. In The Classic Maya Collapse, edited by Culbert, T. P., pp. 269–300. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Spinden, H. J. 1928 Civilizations of Mexico and Central America. Handbook Series No. 3. American Museum of Natural History, New York.Google Scholar
Sullivan, A. P. III 1987a Artifact Scatters, Adaptive Diversity, and Southwestern Abandonment : The Upham Hypothesis Reconsidered. Journal of Anthropological Research 43 : 345–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, A. P. III 1987b Point and Counterpoint in Southwestern Archaeology. Journal of Anthropological Research 43 : 364–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teltser, P. A. 1988 The Mississippian Archaeological Record on the Maiden Plain, Southeast Missouri : Local Variability in Evolutionary Perspective. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle.Google Scholar
Upham, S. 1984 Adaptive Diversity and Southwestern Abandonment. Journal of Anthropological Research 40 : 235–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Upham, S. 1987 Functional Variability and Limited Activity Sites : The Real Message from Pitiful Flats. Journal of Anthropological Research 43 : 361–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wetterstrom, W. E. 1978 Plant Remains from Mesilla and El Paso Phase Sites of the Hueco Bolson : A Preliminary Report. In Settlement Patterns of the Western Hueco Bolson, by Whalen, M. E., pp. 230–242. Publications in Anthropology No. 6. El Paso Centennial Museum, The University of Texas, El Paso.Google Scholar
Wetterstrom, W. E. 1986 Food, Diet, and Population at Prehistoric Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, New Mexico. Arroyo Hondo Archaeological Series Vol. 6. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Williams, G. C. 1966 Adaptation and Natural Selection. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar