Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Effect of Population Aggregation on Food Acquisition Behavior

Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX

Investigators

Abstract

Food security, the available of and access to safe and healthy food, is a key question in global social theory and a primary concern for developing nations. As the world's population increases, longitudinal data is necessary to understand how best to measure food insecurity in modern communities and to predict, prepare for, and respond to future trends in food availability and access as the environment changes. Archaeology is perfectly poised to examine how communities in the past collectively managed crucial animal protein resources and how such practices can lead to food sovereignty (the democratic production and distribution of food) and enduring traditions over time. Under the guidance of Dr. B. Sunday Eiselt, Rachel Burger will investigate how Ancestral Pueblo animal management practices ensured food security during a period of rapid population growth in the northern Rio Grande region of New Mexico starting in the early AD 1300s. This research has far-reaching implications for understanding human responses to food scarcity in prehistoric and contemporary societies during periods of environmental and social change and can inform present-day animal conservation efforts. The northern Rio Grande prior to Spanish contact was the site of rapid population growth in a very concentrated area. Large populations living in aggregated villages appeared in the region suddenly and grew from just under 300 to approximately 11,500 people from A.D. 1300 to 1400. Many scholars view this abrupt demographic rise as one outcome of community coalescence, or the coming together of disparate populations in such a way that creates a new and cohesive community identity. The assumption has been that coalescence increases economic, political, and community well-being, but past research has shown that increased population density results in a decreased availability to wild animal populations. How coalescent communities managed the challenges presented by this resource depression is understudied. When and under what conditions did animal management practices and institutions emerge among Ancestral Pueblo communities and what was their role in the acquisition and management of animal resources? What role did they play in the maintenance of large aggregated villages? To address these questions project activities will focus on the analysis of a large animal bone assemblage from the site of Sapa'owingeh in the Rio Chama watershed. These analyses will examine changes in animal protein abundance and use, which will then be compared to existing datasets for population growth and dendroclimatic reconstructions to evaluate the conditions under which the social institutions that regulated access to game originated and operated. The data generated will be used to address a novel approach to understand how complex socio-religious developments emerged and to evaluate certain expectations regarding models of Pueblo aggregation. In a region dominated by studies of prehistoric agriculture, this research has the potential to transform our understanding of coalescent communities and the role of managerial institutions in regulating access to animal products and coping with stress under different natural and social environmental and demographic conditions.