LA-UR-09-02500A wide range of theories - resilience theory and the study of complex adaptive systems, for example - are advancing our understanding of anthropological systems. Recently, anthropologists have applied the panarchy framework to study socionatural systems. This framework allows researchers to assess growth, conservation, release, and reorganization in this nested-cycle model that operates simultaneously at multiple spatio-temporal scales. The long time-depth of the archaeological record is a critical factor in our ability to investigate human behavior within the panarchy's set of nested adaptive cycles.Archaeological investigation in the US Southwest has focused on processes of aggregation and culture change due to varying environmental and social conditions; the Pajarito Plateau, NM, has been the subject of archaeological research since the late 1800s. The Los Alamos National Laboratory portion of the Plateau has been thoroughly surveyed for cultural resources, but has received less attention by scholars than surrounding areas, including Bandelier National Monument. I use the panarchy framework to build a model of Puebloan settlement, land use, demography, and adaptation to assess the utility of the panarchy model for anthropological systems and fill a void in archaeologists' understanding of the Puebloan Southwest.I analyze patterns of residential and agricultural land use during the Rio Grande Coalition and Classic periods (A.D. 1150-1600) for the Pajarito Plateau. I conclude that there is no major change in the use of various landscape ranges between these periods. I reconstruct regional Puebloan momentary population and investigate recent evidence that supports a San Juan Basin source of the dramatic population increase during the Late Coalition. I also investigate aggregation into large plaza pueblos, the development of craft specialization, agricultural intensification, architectural change, and increased participation in the wider Rio Grande marketplace economy as responses of households, clans, villages, and the entire Pajarito population to the highly fluctuating climate of the local landscape. I address these results within the panarchy framework. Further, I argue that the Pajarito Plateau system continued after the population dispersed into the Rio Grande Valley below, to be closer to reliable sources of water and the growing Rio Grande economy.

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.

The study of archaeology within an ecological and evolutionary framework began with the study of changes in human subsistence through time. Within the last few decades archaeologists have expanded applications of evolutionary ecology (EE) beyond the dietary emphasis of the prey choice model toward increasingly complex and novel applications. The chapters in this dissertation provide several examples of this expansion, through novel examinations of the complex relationships between humans and their environment, as well as thoughtful examinations of social systems and non-subsistence related behavior through the prism of EE. Appendix A asks at what transport distance from a central place does big game become costly to procure relative to smaller local game? Results from this study show that big game is an economical choice at a one-way transport distance of over 100 km. These results are then used in Appendix B where isotope geochemistry is used to show both large and small game from Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon were transported over 70 km to the Canyon. Without the results from Appendix A, one would be inclined to describe the long-distance transport of large game as a costly signal, when in fact it is an economical choice, particularly in a depressed or low productivity habitat. Appendix C, demonstrates the applicability of costly signaling theory to non-dietary artifacts, by showing how geochemically sourced non-local goods contain a variety of social meaning.

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The Protohistoric period in the Pimería Alta marks the transition from prehistory to history, when the social identities among and between historically documented ethnic groups were shaped and negotiated. This period was characterized by social upheaval and demographic change, marked by the transformation of large archaeological complexes after A.D. 1450, the reorganization of the Southwest demographic landscape during the sixteenth century, and the slow yet inexorable encroachment of Spanish colonialism during the seventeenth century. While the Protohistoric period is central to our understanding of culture change and the negotiation of social identity, this period is not well understood from an anthropological perspective, which obscures our understanding of the relationships among and between archaeological cultures and historically documented ethnic groups. Following a reanalysis of archaeological data, written accounts, oral histories, and ethnographic observations, three models of protohistoric demographic change were evaluated within an ethnohistorical framework. Existing data suggest that historically documented ethnic groups have antecedents in multiple archaeological traditions, rather than a single group. Furthermore, inconsistencies in extant archaeological typologies were identified, resulting in a reevaluation of the validity of the use of these typologies as markers of cultural affiliation. An attribute analysis of these typologies reveals that they are not well defined and cannot be reliably associated with a single ethnic group. This analysis demonstrates that there is rarely a one-to-one correlation between an artifact type and an ethnic identity; rather, it is necessary to examine the practices and behaviors that produce materiality and shape residential spaces to understand the suite of practices that construct and/or express ethnic identity.

Water scarcity and high irradiance overlap in the southwestern United States. This thesis explores solar energy as a method to power desalination in the Southwest. Ten solar desalination plants were modeled using photovoltaic reverse osmosis and concentrated solar thermal multi-effect distillation. Seawater and brackish water were considered, as well as liquid and zero liquid discharge plants. Using borrowed capital amortization, levelized energy costs were estimated to be 0.067 $/kWh-electric for photovoltaic systems and 0.009 $/kWh-heat for thermal systems. Photovoltaic reverse osmosis with liquid plant waste showed the best short-term financials while optimal long-term solar desalination methods were shown to be arbitrary, limited by solar conversion and desalination thermodynamics. A conceptualization and proof of desalination minimum work is presented. This study concludes that solar desalination cost remains higher than conservation, but has considerable potential as a new source of water in the Southwest, filling the gap between overdraft and renewable supply.

Revised; Original Published: 2006 / 5 pp.

For four hundred years the Red River Valley has been the battleground between contending Indian tribes and European races, and for almost three hundred of these years the river has been a disputed boundary line, either between rival nations, or between neighboring states of our country. The river has never been of much importance as a commercial route, yet very few rivers in all the United States have played so an important and persistent a part in this history of their sections as the Red River has played in the history of the Southwest.

This thesis studied the iron smelting technology of Southwest China. It introduces the natural and human environment of Southwest China and gives a systematic review on the important archaeological sites of Southwest China. A total of 75 iron smelting related sites of Southwest China were surveyed. Five of these sites were excavated and studied in detail including the furnace structures, smelting related materials and their smelting process. A statistical study of over 5,100 iron objects (and bronze and iron bi-metallic objects) in published excavation reports was carried out to understand the pattern and statistical distribution of iron objects excavated in Southwest China. This was followed by metallographic analysis of 66 samples taken from 42 iron objects and slags (mostly from the Lijiaba site, and from the Qiaogoutou site). The slag samples (from the Xuxiebian site) helped to identify the bowl-shaped furnaces, that discovered at the iron smelting sites of Southwest China, as refining furnaces. The results of the metallographic studies helped to characterise the range of technologies that developed in Southwest China primarily during the Han dynasty (202BC-220AD). According to these studies, some issues such as the origin and development of technology, the labourers’ identities, the origin of the blacksmiths, and the management and policy of iron production in Southwest China are discussed.