Thesis (Ph. D. - Arid Lands Resource Sciences)--University of Arizona, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 383-409).

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This study investigates the transition from hunting and gathering economies to mixed economies involving both agriculture and hunting and gathering. Specifically, the problem of when, why, and how the transition to agriculture occurred in the arid-semiarid river basins of southeastern Arizona is explored. Modern environmental conditions are described, and the nature and sources of climatic, biotic, and fluvial systemic variability are considered. Anthropological and ecological models of hunter-gatherer adaptations to arid environments are used to reconstruct the general subsistence economy of preagricultural societies in the region, and to portray the process of the spread of agricultural production strategies. Two models of the transition are presented, one involving the adoption of agriculture by indigenous hunting-gathering societies, and the other involving the arrival of immigrant societies already practicing agriculture to a significant degree. Previous studies of the transition to agriculture in the American Southwest are reviewed, and new data are presented from excavated Late Archaic (ca. 3000-2000 BP) sites in southeastern Arizona. These data show that agriculture appeared by at least 2800 BP in this area, and that it spread rapidly across the American Southwest. It was already an important subsistence strategy and was associated with semisedentary village sites that have no known predecessors in the archaeological record. It is concluded that the adoption of agriculture, with its associated storage technology, is an important strategy by which human populations can mitigate some of the risks associated with foraging in an environment characterized by predictable seasonal variation in resource availability and unpredictable, climatically-induced fluctuations in the productivity of wild resources over time.

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This item was digitized as part of the Million Books Project led by Carnegie Mellon University and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Cornell University coordinated the participation of land-grant and agricultural libraries in providing historical agricultural information for the digitization project; the University of Arizona Libraries, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Office of Arid Lands Studies collaborated in the selection and provision of material for the digitization project.

Hunting by horticulturalists in the Southwest examines the impact of horticulture on hunting behavior and animal exploitation among late Archaic and Hohokam Indians in south-central Arizona. A model incorporating ecological and ethnographic data discusses the impact horticulturalists had on the environment and the ways in which that impact affected other aspects of subsistence, specifically hunting behavior. The model is then evaluated using a regional faunal data base from Archaic and Hohokam sites. Five major patterns supporting the model are observed: (1) a reliance on small and medium-sized mammals as sources of animal protein, (2) the use of rodents as food, (3) the differential reliance on cottontails (Sylvilagus) and jack rabbits (Lepus) at Hohokam farmsteads versus villages, (4) the relative decrease in the exploitation of cottontails versus jack rabbits as a Hohokam site was occupied through time, and (5) the recovery contexts of artiodactyl remains, which indicate their ritual and tool use as well as for food.

A recently completed intensive archaeological survey of Long House Valley in northeastern Arizona has provided a detailed body of data on prehistoric settlement distribution and environmental variation. Long House Valley was occupied between A.D. 1 and 1300 by prehistoric agriculturalists referred to as the Kayenta Anasazi. This study examines the changing relationship between settlement locations and agricultural adaptations from A.D. 500 to 1300 in Long House Valley. As part of this analysis, the archaeological, ethnographic, and environmental background of the Kayenta region is reviewed as a basis for understanding the nature of agricultural adaptation in this region. Agricultural practices of the Hopi Indians of northern Arizona provide the basis for a model of probable agricultural field locations. This combined with an examination of the physiographic, hydrographic, and edaphic features in the valley allow identification of potential field areas. Changes in the potential of identified field areas are postulated on the basis of variation in available moisture as determined from a regional dendroclimatic reconstruction. Prehistoric habitation site locations and their changing distribution through time are examined against these proposed changes in field potential. This study demonstrates that there is a distinct positive correlation between settlement location and potential field location as determined by available moisture. Beginning about A.D. 1150 deteriorating environmental conditions in the form of decreased moisture, arroyo cutting, and lowered water table are considered the primary determinants of changes in site locations. These changes are viewed as an adaptive response by the Kayenta Anasazi to conditions of decreased moisture. Continuing deterioration of the environment made the practice of agriculture impossible and resulted in the total abandonment of Long House Valley and the entire Kayenta region by A.D. 1300.

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