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Depopulation of the Northern San Juan Region Historical Review and Archaeological Context Mark D. Varien 1 The northern San Juan region, an area defined in this volume as the drainages that empty into the San Juan River from the north, is one of the world’s foremost archaeological areas. This is attested to by the extent of the public lands devoted to archaeological preservation and public interpretation. In southwestern Colorado, these include Mesa Verde National Park, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park, and four national monuments—Yucca House, Hovenweep, Chimney Rock, and Canyons of the Ancients (CANM)—along with the Anasazi Heritage Center, headquarters for CANM and one of the premier interpretive and curation facilities in the Southwest. Public-land archaeological areas in southeastern Utah include Arches and Canyonlands National Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, Cedar Mesa–Grand Gulch Primitive Area, and Edge of the Cedars State Park. Northwestern New Mexico contains two prominent archaeological areas: Aztec National Monument and Salmon Ruins. The northern San Juan region has captured the imagination of the public and the attention of researchers since the late 1800s because of its incredible number of archaeological sites—more than one hundred per square mile in some areas—and their extraordinary preservation. Among these sites are multistoried pueblos and underground structures—some with roofs intact and murals decorating their walls—and abundant artifacts, many still on floors, as if the sites’ residents had only recently left. The subject of this volume is the depopulation of the region and the migration of its inhabitants to other areas. The volume begins by recognizing that depopulation and migration occurred throughout the Greater Southwest (fig. 1.1). Chapters 2, 3, and 6 examine population movement in this larger area to provide the context for these processes in the northern San Juan region (fig. 1.2). Depopulation also occurred in the context Figure 1.1. Portions of the Greater Southwest and adjacent areas, as referred to in this volume. (Courtesy Crow Canyon Archaeological Center) Depopulation of the Northern San Juan 3 of significant climate change, and chapters 4 and 5 present a large body of new research on the environmental setting that stimulated migration. Chapter 4 shows that thirteenth-century climate conditions were some of the worst ever for farmers in the northern Southwest, demonstrating that climatic variability remains an important factor in the migrations from both the losing and receiving ends. Chapter 5 uses high-frequency changes in both precipitation and temperature to provide annual estimates of maize-farming productivity, and these data are combined with models that examine the long-term use of meat obtained by hunting, wood collected for fuel, and water used for domestic needs. These reconstructions are used as the basis for developing a synthetic explanatory model for the depopulation of the central Mesa Verde region. Figure 1.2. The northern San Juan and adjacent portions of the Southwest. (Courtesy Crow Canyon Archaeological Center) 4 Mark D. Varien Chapters 7, 8, and 9 use archaeological data from the central Mesa Verde region to characterize the social upheaval that occurred during the thirteenth century. The emphasis shifts in the next three chapters to examine migration as a social process. Chapter 10 documents the cultural complex that was abandoned by Pueblo people when they left the central Mesa Verde region (CMV). Chapter 11 builds a case for the social identity of this group, arguing that they were Tewa speakers who moved to the Tewa basin in the Rio Grande Valley. Chapter 12 challenges the idea that people from the northern San Juan migrated in large numbers to the Rio Grande. Instead, this chapter argues, settlement change during the fourteenth century in the Rio Grande region is best understood as a local process augmented by a relatively small number of immigrants who had little effect on the local culture. The final two chapters, 13 and 14, provide big-picture syntheses of depopulation and migration in the northern Southwest. As this summary illustrates, the volume makes an important contribution to understanding this fascinating historical problem. But it also addresses anthropological issues relevant to virtually all societies and to the world we live in today. In general, the volume clarifies processes that structure the collapse of settlement systems and the social reorganization that accompanies migration. Migration is seen as both a process and a historical event, and we show that the factors initiating this process may differ from those that hastened its conclusion. The chapters in this volume show how demography, environment...

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