This analysis of faunal remains from eleven archaeological sites in the northern San Juan region, extensively occupied by the Ancestral Pueblo people until they leave the region by AD 1300, explores the effects of resource intensification of small wild and domestic resources leading up to this regional depopulation. By examining multiple lines of evidence, in addition to faunal abundance, causal factors are identified to address changes in abundances through time. In particular, age- and sex-based mortality are examined for lagomorphs (jackrabbits and cottontails) and domesticated turkey, respectively, to test hypotheses generated using the prey and patch choice models. Analyses of these resources follow a systematic paleontology which provides explicit identifications made of five sites from a large study area, Goodman Point Pueblo Unit. These data are integrated with those from large village sites from the encompassing central Mesa Verde region. The results of both analyses help clarify why the Ancestral Pueblo people left southwestern Colorado. During the final twenty-year occupation period, the results of this study support a shift from reliance on turkey husbandry to intense exploitation of locally available garden resources (i.e. cottontails).

Ancestral Pueblo communities of the central Mesa Verde region (CMVR) became increasingly reliant on agriculture for their subsistence needs during Basketmaker III (BMIII) through Terminal Pueblo III (TPIII) (AD 600–1300) periods. Researchers have been studying the Ancestral Pueblo people for over a century using a variety of methods to understand the relationships between climate, agriculture, population, and settlement patterns. While these methods and research have produced a well-developed cultural history of the region, studies at a smaller scale are still needed to understand the changes in farming behavior and the distribution of individual sites across the CMVR. Soil moisture is the limiting factor for crop growth in the semi-arid region of the Goodman Watershed in the CMVR. Thus, I constructed the soil moisture proxy model (SMPM) that is on a local scale and focuses on variables relevant to soil moisture – soil particle-size, soil depth, slope, and aspect. From the SMPM output, the areas of very high soil moisture are assumed to represent desirable farmland locations. I describe the relationship between very high soil moisture and site locations, then I infer the relevance of that relationship to settlement patterns and how those patterns changed over time (BMIII – TPIII). The results of the model and its application help to clarify how Ancestral Pueblo people changed as local farming communities. The results of this study indicates that farmers shifted away from use of preferred farmland during Terminal Pueblo III, which may have been caused by other cultural factors. The general outcome of this thesis is an improved understanding of human-environmental relationships on the local landscape in the CMVR.

We examine the emergence of the Neolithic in the Southwest United States by focusing on the Mesa Verde region and the research we have conducted there as a part of the Village Ecodynamics Project. The Mesa Verde region has many characteristics that make it an ideal place to study the emergence of the Neolithic. The region has about 20.000 recorded archaeological sites. These sites are highly visible because there has been relatively little erosion or deposition. The arid climate has resulted in remarkable preservation, and tree-ring dating provides precise chronological resolution. Tree rings also allow annual reconstructions of temperature and precipitation. Finally, Pueblo Indians continue to live in New Mexico and Arizona today, and their oral traditions can be combined with archaeological information to provide a more complete and inclusive reconstruction of the Pueblo past. We examine the lengthy occupation of the Mesa Verde region to better understand the relationship between the following key elements of the Neolithic: the introduction of domesticated food production, the causes and consequences of population growth, the effects of climate change, the intensification of the warfare, the degree of sedentism and frequency of population movement, the formation of villages, and the emergence of complex social and political organization. / En el presente trabajo se analiza el surgimiento del Neolítico en el Suroeste de los Estados Unidos sobre la base de la región de Mesa Verde y las investigaciones que los autores han dirigido como parte del Village Ecodynamics Project (VEP). Esta región tiene muchas características que la hacen ideal para estudiar el surgimiento del Neolítico. Tiene cerca de 20.000 sitios arqueológicos registrados que son bastante visibles debido a la relativamente poca erosión y los escasos procesos de deposición. El clima árido ha motivado una conservación notable y el fechado dendrocronológico ha proporcionado una definición cronológica precisa. Las series de anillos de los árboles también han permitido reconstrucciones anuales de la temperatura y las precipitaciones. Por último, los indios pueblo aún viven en New Mexico y Arizona en la actualidad, y sus tradiciones orales pueden ser combinadas con información arqueológica para brindar una reconstrucción más completa, inclusive, del pasado de estos grupos humanos. Se examina la larga ocupación de la región de Mesa Verde para entender mejor la relación entre los siguientes elementos clave del Neolítico: la introducción de una producción de alimentos domesticados, las causas y consecuencias del crecimiento poblacional, los efectos del cambio climático, la intensificación de la guerra, el grado de sedentarismo y la frecuencia del movimiento de poblaciones, la formación de aldeas y, por último, el surgimiento de la organización social y política compleja.