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Kohler TA, Bird D, Bocinsky RK, Reese K, Gillreath-Brown AD. Wealth inequality in the prehispanic northern US Southwest: from Malthus to Tyche. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220298. [PMID: 37381850 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Persistent differences in wealth and power among prehispanic Pueblo societies are visible from the late AD 800s through the late 1200s, after which large portions of the northern US Southwest were depopulated. In this paper we measure these differences in wealth using Gini coefficients based on house size, and show that high Ginis (large wealth differences) are positively related to persistence in settlements and inversely related to an annual measure of the size of the unoccupied dry-farming niche. We argue that wealth inequality in this record is due first to processes inherent in village life which have internally different distributions of the most productive maize fields, exacerbated by the dynamics of systems of balanced reciprocity; and second to decreasing ability to escape village life owing to shrinking availability of unoccupied places within the maize dry-farming niche as villages get enmeshed in regional systems of tribute or taxation. We embed this analytical reconstruction in the model of an 'Abrupt imposition of Malthusian equilibrium in a natural-fertility, agrarian society' proposed by Puleston et al. (Puleston C, Tuljapurkar S, Winterhalder B. 2014 PLoS ONE 9, e87541 (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0087541)), but show that the transition to Malthusian dynamics in this area is not abrupt but extends over centuries This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary ecology of inequality'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy A Kohler
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164, USA
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87506, USA
- Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, CO 81321, USA
- Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
| | - Darcy Bird
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164, USA
| | - R Kyle Bocinsky
- Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, CO 81321, USA
- WA Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA
| | - Kelsey Reese
- Environmental Stewardship Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
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Crabtree SA, Dunne JA. Towards a science of archaeoecology. Trends Ecol Evol 2022; 37:976-984. [PMID: 36055892 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.07.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 07/14/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
We propose defining a field of research called 'archaeoecology' that examines the past ~60 000 years of interactions between humans and ecosystems to better understand the human place within them. Archaeoecology explicitly integrates questions, data, and approaches from archaeology and ecology, and coalesces recent and future studies that demonstrate the usefulness of integrating archaeological, environmental, and ecological data for understanding the past. Defining a subfield of archaeoecology, much as the related fields of environmental archaeology and palaeoecology have emerged as distinct areas of research, provides a clear intellectual context for helping us to understand the trajectory of human-ecosystem interactions in the past, during the present, and into the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefani A Crabtree
- Department of Environment and Society, College of Natural Resources, Utah State University, 5200 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-5200, USA; The Ecology Center, Utah State University, 5205 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-5200, USA; Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia; Crow Canyon Research Institute, 23390 County Road K, Cortez, CO 81321, USA.
| | - Jennifer A Dunne
- Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA.
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Polyak VJ, Asmerom Y, Lachniet MS. Climatic backdrop for Pueblo cultural development in the southwestern United States. Sci Rep 2022; 12:8723. [PMID: 35610258 PMCID: PMC9130131 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12220-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
While climatic triggers for collapse and population migrations of ancestral Pueblo communities have been proposed, little is known about the overall climatic backdrop for the entire pre-Hispanic Pueblo period (ca. 1300 to 460 B2K). Here, we report data from stalagmite HC-1, from Hidden Cave, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, covering the past 3400 years, showing an interval of increased frequency of droughts from 1260 to 370 yr B2K that is coeval with the entire pre-Hispanic Pueblo period. Our record suggests that this puebloan Late Holocene climatic interval was the most arid and highly variable climatic period of the last 3400 years. Climatic conditions favoring the introduction of cultivation existed prior to the Pueblo period during more pluvial-like conditions from at least 3400 to 1260 yr B2K. Hence, the change from the Desert Archaic/Basketmaker to Pueblo cultures was associated with a quick transition to increasing aridity into and through the Pueblo period associated with greater urbanization and the establishment of pueblo population centers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor J Polyak
- Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87109, USA.
| | - Yemane Asmerom
- Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87109, USA
| | - Matthew S Lachniet
- Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA
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Ljungqvist FC, Seim A, Tegel W, Krusic PJ, Baittinger C, Belingard C, Bernabei M, Bonde N, Borghaerts P, Couturier Y, Crone A, van Daalen S, Daly A, Doeve P, Domínguez-Delmás M, Edouard JL, Frank T, Ginzler C, Grabner M, Gschwind FM, Haneca K, Hansson A, Herzig F, Heussner KU, Hofmann J, Houbrechts D, Kaczka RJ, Kolář T, Kontic R, Kyncl T, Labbas V, Lagerås P, Le Digol Y, Le Roy M, Leuschner HH, Linderson H, Ludlow F, Marais A, Mills CM, Neyses-Eiden M, Nicolussi K, Perrault C, Pfeifer K, Rybníček M, Rzepecki A, Schmidhalter M, Seifert M, Shindo L, Spyt B, Susperregi J, Svarva HL, Thun T, Walder F, Ważny T, Werthe E, Westphal T, Wilson R, Büntgen U. Regional Patterns of Late Medieval and Early Modern European Building Activity Revealed by Felling Dates. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.825751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Although variations in building activity are a useful indicator of societal well-being and demographic development, historical datasets for larger regions and longer periods are still rare. Here, we present 54,045 annually precise dendrochronological felling dates from historical construction timber from across most of Europe between 1250 and 1699 CE to infer variations in building activity. We use geostatistical techniques to compare spatiotemporal dynamics in past European building activity against independent demographic, economic, social and climatic data. We show that the felling dates capture major geographical patterns of demographic trends, especially in regions with dense data coverage. A particularly strong negative association is found between grain prices and the number of felling dates. In addition, a significant positive association is found between the number of felling dates and mining activity. These strong associations, with well-known macro-economic indicators from pre-industrial Europe, corroborate the use of felling dates as an independent source for exploring large-scale fluctuations of societal well-being and demographic development. Three prominent examples are the building boom in the Hanseatic League region of northeastern Germany during the 13th century, the onset of the Late Medieval Crisis in much of Europe c. 1300, and the cessation of building activity in large parts of central Europe during armed conflicts such as the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648 CE). Despite new insights gained from our European-wide felling date inventory, further studies are needed to investigate changes in construction activity of high versus low status buildings, and of urban versus rural buildings, and to compare those results with a variety of historical documentary sources and natural proxy archives.
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Along the Rivers and into the Plain: Early Crop Diversity in the Central and Western Balkans and Its Relationship with Environmental and Cultural Variables. QUATERNARY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/quat5010006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Agriculture is a complex and dynamic socio-ecological system shaped by environmental, economic, and social factors. The crop resource pool is its key component and one that best reflects environmental limitations and socio-economic concerns of the farmers. This pertains in particular to small-scale subsistence production, as was practised by Neolithic farmers. We investigated if and how the environment and cultural complexes shaped the spectrum and diversity of crops cultivated by Neolithic farmers in the central-western Balkans and on the Hungarian Plain. We did so by exploring patterns in crop diversity between biogeographical regions and cultural complexes using multivariate statistical analyses. We also examined the spectrum of wild-gathered plant resources in the same way. We found that the number of species in Neolithic plant assemblages is correlated with sampling intensity (the number and volume of samples), but that this applies to all archaeological cultures. Late Neolithic communities of the central and western Balkans exploited a large pool of plant resources, whose spectrum was somewhat different between archaeological cultures. By comparison, the earliest Neolithic tradition in the region, the Starčevo-Körös-Criş phenomenon, seems to have used a comparatively narrower range of crops and wild plants, as did the Linearbandkeramik culture on the Hungarian Plain.
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Abstract
Collapse of civilizations remains one of the most enigmatic phenomena in human history. In this paper we provide quantitative evidence that loss of resilience systematically preceded collapses. We take advantage of unique time series documenting both construction activity and climate conditions for pre-Columbian societies of the southwestern United States on an annual basis over a period of eight centuries. These data cover five transformations encompassing shifts to novel constellations of beliefs, social practices, and styles of art and architecture. The remarkable high-resolution time series allowed us to quantify the dynamics of social fragility using numerical techniques for probing resilience. Our results demonstrate that all but one of these transformations happened after decades of rising social instability. Climate extremes are thought to have triggered large-scale transformations of various ancient societies, but they rarely seem to be the sole cause. It has been hypothesized that slow internal developments often made societies less resilient over time, setting them up for collapse. Here, we provide quantitative evidence for this idea. We use annual-resolution time series of building activity to demonstrate that repeated dramatic transformations of Pueblo cultures in the pre-Hispanic US Southwest were preceded by signals of critical slowing down, a dynamic hallmark of fragility. Declining stability of the status quo is consistent with archaeological evidence for increasing violence and in some cases, increasing wealth inequality toward the end of these periods. Our work thus supports the view that the cumulative impact of gradual processes may make societies more vulnerable through time, elevating the likelihood that a perturbation will trigger a large-scale transformation that includes radically rejecting the status quo and seeking alternative pathways.
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Lenton TM, Kohler TA, Marquet PA, Boyle RA, Crucifix M, Wilkinson DM, Scheffer M. Survival of the Systems. Trends Ecol Evol 2021; 36:333-344. [PMID: 33414020 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Revised: 11/26/2020] [Accepted: 12/04/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Since Darwin, individuals and more recently genes, have been the focus of evolutionary thinking. The idea that selection operates on nonreproducing, higher-level systems including ecosystems or societies, has met with scepticism. But research emphasising that natural selection can be based solely on differential persistence invites reconsideration of their evolution. Self-perpetuating feedback cycles involving biotic as well as abiotic components are critical to determining persistence. Evolution of autocatalytic networks of molecules is well studied, but the principles hold for any 'self-perpetuating' system. Ecosystem examples include coral reefs, rainforests, and savannahs. Societal examples include agricultural systems, dominant belief systems, and economies. Persistence-based selection of feedbacks can help us understand how ecological and societal systems survive or fail in a changing world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy M Lenton
- Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK.
| | - Timothy A Kohler
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4910, USA; Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA; Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, CO 81321, USA
| | - Pablo A Marquet
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA; Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile; Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Centro de Cambio Global UC, Laboratorio Internacional de Cambio Global (LINCGlobal), Santiago, Chile
| | - Richard A Boyle
- Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK
| | - Michel Crucifix
- Université Catholique de Louvain, Earth and Life Institute, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - David M Wilkinson
- School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7DL, UK; Classics and Archaeology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
| | - Marten Scheffer
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University, 6700AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
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Gunaratne C, Garibay I. Evolutionary model discovery of causal factors behind the socio-agricultural behavior of the Ancestral Pueblo. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0239922. [PMID: 33338054 PMCID: PMC7748155 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2019] [Accepted: 08/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Agent-based modeling of artificial societies allows for the validation and analysis of human-interpretable, causal explanations of human behavior that generate society-scale phenomena. However, parameter calibration is insufficient to conduct data-driven explorations that are adequate in evaluating the importance of causal factors that constitute agent rules that match real-world individual-scale generative behaviors. We introduce evolutionary model discovery, a framework that combines genetic programming and random forest regression to evaluate the importance of a set of causal factors hypothesized to affect the individual’s decision-making process. With evolutionary model discovery, we investigated the farm plot seeking behavior of the Ancestral Pueblo of the Long House Valley simulated in the Artificial Anasazi model. We evaluated the importance of causal factors unconsidered in the original model, which we hypothesized to have affected the decision-making process. Our findings, concur with other archaeological studies on the Ancestral Pueblo communities during the Pueblo II period, which indicate the existence of cross-village polities, hierarchical organization, and dependence on the viability of the agricultural niche. Contrary to the original Artificial Anasazi model, where closeness was the sole factor driving farm plot selection, selection of higher quality land, distancing from failed farm plots, and desire for social presence are found to be more important. Finally, models updated with farm selection strategies designed by incorporating these insights showed significant improvements in accuracy and robustness over the original Artificial Anasazi model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chathika Gunaratne
- Complex Adaptive Systems Lab, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, United States of America
| | - Ivan Garibay
- Complex Adaptive Systems Lab, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Robinson E, Bocinsky RK, Bird D, Freeman J, Kelly RL. Dendrochronological dates confirm a Late Prehistoric population decline in the American Southwest derived from radiocarbon dates. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 376:20190718. [PMID: 33250020 PMCID: PMC7741101 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The northern American Southwest provides one of the most well-documented cases of human population growth and decline in the world. The geographic extent of this decline in North America is unknown owing to the lack of high-resolution palaeodemographic data from regions across and beyond the greater Southwest, where archaeological radiocarbon data are often the only available proxy for investigating these palaeodemographic processes. Radiocarbon time series across and beyond the greater Southwest suggest widespread population collapses from AD 1300 to 1600. However, radiocarbon data have potential biases caused by variable radiocarbon sample preservation, sample collection and the nonlinearity of the radiocarbon calibration curve. In order to be confident in the wider trends seen in radiocarbon time series across and beyond the greater Southwest, here we focus on regions that have multiple palaeodemographic proxies and compare those proxies to radiocarbon time series. We develop a new method for time series analysis and comparison between dendrochronological data and radiocarbon data. Results confirm a multiple proxy decline in human populations across the Upland US Southwest, Central Mesa Verde and Northern Rio Grande from AD 1300 to 1600. These results lend confidence to single proxy radiocarbon-based reconstructions of palaeodemography outside the Southwest that suggest post-AD 1300 population declines in many parts of North America. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erick Robinson
- Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology, Utah State University, 0730 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-0730, USA
| | - R Kyle Bocinsky
- Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, 23390 Road K, Cortez, CO 81321, USA
| | - Darcy Bird
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, College Hall 150, PO Box 644910, Pullman, WA 99164-4910, USA
| | - Jacob Freeman
- Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology, Utah State University, 0730 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-0730, USA
| | - Robert L Kelly
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Ave, Laramie, WY 82070, USA
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10
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Affiliation(s)
- David W. Stahle
- Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
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12
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Gillreath-Brown A, Bocinsky RK. A Dialogue Between Empirical and Model-Based Agricultural Studies in Archaeology. J ETHNOBIOL 2017. [DOI: 10.2993/0278-0771-37.2.167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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d'Alpoim Guedes JA, Crabtree SA, Bocinsky RK, Kohler TA. Twenty-first century approaches to ancient problems: Climate and society. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:14483-14491. [PMID: 27956613 PMCID: PMC5187725 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1616188113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
By documenting how humans adapted to changes in their environment that are often much greater than those experienced in the instrumental record, archaeology provides our only deep-time laboratory for highlighting the circumstances under which humans managed or failed to find to adaptive solutions to changing climate, not just over a few generations but over the longue durée Patterning between climate-mediated environmental change and change in human societies has, however, been murky because of low spatial and temporal resolution in available datasets, and because of failure to model the effects of climate change on local resources important to human societies. In this paper we review recent advances in computational modeling that, in conjunction with improving data, address these limitations. These advances include network analysis, niche and species distribution modeling, and agent-based modeling. These studies demonstrate the utility of deep-time modeling for calibrating our understanding of how climate is influencing societies today and may in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stefani A Crabtree
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163
- Université de Franche-Comté, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme et de l'Environnement C. N. Ledoux (MSHE), 25030 Besançon Cedex, France
| | - R Kyle Bocinsky
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163
- Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, CO 81321
| | - Timothy A Kohler
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163
- Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, CO 81321
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501
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Spielmann KA, Peeples MA, Glowacki DM, Dugmore A. Early Warning Signals of Social Transformation: A Case Study from the US Southwest. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0163685. [PMID: 27706200 PMCID: PMC5051805 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2016] [Accepted: 09/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent research in ecology suggests that generic indicators, referred to as early warning signals (EWS), may occur before significant transformations, both critical and non-critical, in complex systems. Up to this point, research on EWS has largely focused on simple models and controlled experiments in ecology and climate science. When humans are considered in these arenas they are invariably seen as external sources of disturbance or management. In this article we explore ways to include societal components of socio-ecological systems directly in EWS analysis. Given the growing archaeological literature on 'collapses,' or transformations, in social systems, we investigate whether any early warning signals are apparent in the archaeological records of the build-up to two contemporaneous cases of social transformation in the prehistoric US Southwest, Mesa Verde and Zuni. The social transformations in these two cases differ in scope and severity, thus allowing us to explore the contexts under which warning signals may (or may not) emerge. In both cases our results show increasing variance in settlement size before the transformation, but increasing variance in social institutions only before the critical transformation in Mesa Verde. In the Zuni case, social institutions appear to have managed the process of significant social change. We conclude that variance is of broad relevance in anticipating social change, and the capacity of social institutions to mitigate transformation is critical to consider in EWS research on socio-ecological systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine A. Spielmann
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Matthew A. Peeples
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Donna M. Glowacki
- Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Andrew Dugmore
- Institute of Geography and the Lived Environment, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
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