scholarly journals Ecosystem impacts by the Ancestral Puebloans of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. e0258369
Author(s):  
David L. Lentz ◽  
Venicia Slotten ◽  
Nicholas P. Dunning ◽  
John G. Jones ◽  
Vernon L. Scarborough ◽  
...  

The Ancestral Puebloans occupied Chaco Canyon, in what is now the southwestern USA, for more than a millennium and harvested useful timber and fuel from the trees of distant forests as well as local woodlands, especially juniper and pinyon pine. These pinyon juniper woodland products were an essential part of the resource base from Late Archaic times (3000–100 BC) to the Bonito phase (AD 800–1140) during the great florescence of Chacoan culture. During this vast expanse of time, the availability of portions of the woodland declined. We posit, based on pollen and macrobotanical remains, that the Chaco Canyon woodlands were substantially impacted during Late Archaic to Basketmaker II times (100 BC–AD 500) when agriculture became a major means of food production and the manufacture of pottery was introduced into the canyon. By the time of the Bonito phase, the local woodlands, especially the juniper component, had been decimated by centuries of continuous extraction of a slow-growing resource. The destabilizing impact resulting from recurrent woodland harvesting likely contributed to the environmental unpredictability and difficulty in procuring essential resources suffered by the Ancestral Puebloans prior to their ultimate departure from Chaco Canyon.

1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan H. Simmons

Recent excavations near Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico have yielded evidence for the use of cultigens by the early second millennium B.C. and continuing into the first millennium B.C. This information comes from four sites, all of which have been radiocarbon dated. The evidence for the oldest use of a cultigen, maize, is in the form of pollen; however, macrobotanical specimens of maize or squash were also recovered from sites dating to the Late Archaic. These data are summarized, as are their significance and implications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim I. Mead ◽  
Bryon A. Schroeder ◽  
Chad L. Yost

Abstract We present new information about the Late Pleistocene Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shastensis). Spirit Eye Cave in the Sierra Vieja along the Rio Grande provides the newest evidence that the Shasta ground sloth inhabited further south in the mountains of the southwestern Trans-Pecos, Texas, than has been previously documented. The cave is one of only twelve known Nothrotheriops dung localities. During excavation of the cave, packrat middens and sloth dung were discovered. Two areas within the cave provide radiocarbon dated ground sloth dung and packrat midden macrobotanical remains which permit the reconstruction of the sloth diet and local biotic habitat at 30,800 and 12,900 calibrated YBP. The local community at 30,800 calibrated years ago was a pinyon-juniper woodland with yucca, sandpaper bush, globemallow, cactus, and barberry in the understory based on the packrat midden from the cave. The dung contents indicate that the diet of the sloth included C3 and C4 grasses along with Agave. Data for the local vegetation community and sloth diet from 12,900 years ago indicate that during this late glacial time, the region was still a pinyon-juniper woodland but also contained Celtis, Quercus, and Larrea, among other taxa.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Enongene Mirabeau Sone

The main objective of this paper is to show how oral literature is engaged by Swazis with regards to environmental sustainability. It demonstrates the relationship between nature and culture as reflected in Swazi oral literature and how indigenous knowledge embedded in this literature can be used to expand the concepts of eco-literature and eco-criticism. The paper argues that the indigenous environmental expertise among the Swazi people, encapsulated in their oral literature, can serve as a critical resource base for the process of developing a healthy environment. Furthermore, the paper contends that eco-criticism, which is essentially a Western concept, can benefit by drawing inspiration from the indigenous knowledge contained in Swazi culture and expressed in their oral literature. The paper concludes by recommending the need to strengthen traditional and customary knowledge and practices by protecting and recognising the values of such systems in the conservation of biodiversity for sustainable development.


2019 ◽  
pp. 57-61
Author(s):  
I.B. Plitkin ◽  
◽  
R.A. Gnilitskiy ◽  
O.A. Yadryshnikova ◽  
E.N. Voropaev ◽  
...  
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