Academic Journal Articles

Delay is seldom a problem when the topics addressed are of interest only to other professionals. However, some research is so timely that I believe it should be more readily accessible to nonspecialist readers. This page is my effort to shorten the lag time and I will update it as I have time or important journal articles cross my desk. 

Coincidentally, I consider this to be an "experimental" page. I alone am responsible for selection of articles, writing the synopses, selecting the key words, and structuring the page.  The format may change as I see what works and I would appreciate any  suggestions.  Please send your comments to me, eric (at) anasaziadventure (dot) com.

Stephen H. Lekson,  "War in the Southwest, war in the world,"  American Antiquity, 67 (October 2002), 607-625.

We know that the ancient southwest was far less peaceful and idyllic than most people imagine. Violence was commonplace, conflict escalated to involve whole villages or village clusters (warfare), and cannibalism was practiced at critical moments. What has been missing is a general theoretic framework in which to place the accumulating evidence.

In this seminal article, Lekson begins by summarizing a theory proposed by Carol and Melvin Ember.  The Embers' model argues that the probability of conflict or violence at any given time is a product of environmental uncertainty and "socialization for violence." In other words, war is caused by environmental factors which make it difficult to reliably access or control resources, and by a psychological environment which makes participants fearful of others. 

After summarizing the model, Lekson reviews evidence of changing precipitation patterns, conflict, and political structure in the Southwest. 

Southwestern people were farmers and water was the critical natural resource. Scholars have reconstructed the southwestern climate using the pattern of growth rings in trees and most changes in precipitation were gradual. These relatively slow changes gave farmers time to adapt to both drier or wetter periods and did not disrupt their activities. However, the record also shows a few periods of "high temporal variation." During these periods, changes occurred rapidly and unpredictably, and methods farmers typically used were insufficient to cope. Examining both total precipitation and changes in the seasonal timing of precipitation, Lekson identifies four periods of resource unpredictability: 310-380, 750-1000, 1250-1560, and 1730-1825. 

Lekson notes that violence in the Southwest took three forms: raiding and feuding, formalized executions, and village-level warfare. All three phenomena are well documented, and Lekson notes that the patterns changed over time. From roughly 1 through the late 700s, violence was characterized by low-level raiding and feuding. This kind of violence escalated until roughly 900 when the level and frequency fell dramatically. The period from 900 to about 1250 was an era of relative peace punctuated by incidents of socially sanctioned violence. This socially sanctioned violence included destruction of small hamlets and probable cannibalism in which residents were carved up and apparently consumed.  Finally, village level warfare is typical of the period from 1250 through Spanish contact.

Lekson concludes that the Embers' model corresponds well with observed patterns in the Southwest. More importantly, he notes, that fact that both resource uncertainty and socialization are involved bridges the gap between theories which emphasize external phenomena and those which focus on internal, psychological concerns. 

Brian R.  Billman,  Patricia M. Lambert,  and  Banks L. Leonard, "Cannibalism, Warfare, And Drought In The Mesa Verde Region During The Twelfth Century A.D.," American Antiquity, 65 (January 2000), 145-

Published in 1999,  Man Corn by Christy and Jacqueline Turner, ignited controversy that rapidly found its way into the public consciousness. Briefly, the Turners argued that human remains at many archaeological sites had been treated as if they were the remains of game animals. This, the Turners said, was presumptive evidence of cannibalism in the ancient southwest. 

Critics responded promptly and predictably; the skeletal marks could have been caused by ritual preparation for burials that were subsequently disturbed. Therefore, they said, there is no proof than anyone ate anyone else. That response collapsed as a result of excavations reported by Billman, Lambert, and Leonard in the article summarized here.

The authors were part of a team excavating several sites in advance of a major irrigation project. Located at the foot of Ute Mountain, the sites were part of a Pueblo III occupation and site 5MT10010 revealed nearly unquestionable evidence of cannibalism.

Site 5MT10010 is popularly known as the "Cowboy Wash" site. It was a small hamlet with three residential pit houses, a storage pit room, three surface structures (both jacal and masonry), and two well defined middens. The remains of five people were found in formal burials within the middens.  In these respects,  5MT10010 is typical of thousands of Pueblo III villages and it was probably home to an extended family or two. 

Unique features of the site became apparent as excavators began to reveal the contents of the pit houses.  Large numbers of domestic artifacts were abandoned in place and the partial remains seven people were found in two of the pit houses. Cut marks, percussion scars, burn marks, and the scattering of the bones all matched Turners' description of physical characteristics indicative of cannibalism. In addition, archaeologists recovered cutting and smashing tools which tested positive for human blood suggesting that they had been used to dismember the bodies. 

The most important piece of evidence was a human turd (coprolite) found in the ash deposit of the hearth in one pit house. The authors note that "the coprolite was found intact in an in situ ash deposit formed by the last use of the hearth and therefore is unlikely to have been redeposited into the hearth by natural processes."  Chemical analysis of the turd indicated that the meal (or meals) it represented were composed entirely of meat  and subsequent testing "revealed the presence of human myoglobin." This finding is particularly important because "myoglobin is an oxygen-carrying molecule that transports oxygen from the surface of the muscle to the energy generating apparatus within the muscle," and is found only in skeletal and cardiac muscle cells. In other words, the presence of myoglobin is positive proof that the person who deposited the turd had consumed human flesh!

Critics have noted that the absence of plant material in the coprolite is unusual and have suggested that the evidence may have  been manufactured.  To me, this seems a flimsy attempt to recover an untennible position and I consider  the evidence to be substantial proof of cannibalism.

Stage 1 took place at least 50,000 years ago when Native American ancestors became separated from other residents of East Central Asia. This group may have had as few as 640 females, but the population grew rapidly. The authors estimate a 7-fold increase in the population to approximately 4,400 females in the years between 43,000 and 36,000 years before present . This is consistent, they say, with the lack of archaeological sites in Siberia and Beringia dating to this era, and suggests that this group of people had a "light footprint" on the landscape. 

Stage 2 dates roughly 36,000 to 16,000 years before present during which time a group with approximately 4,000 to 5,000 females occupied a portion of Beringa. Fossil evidence indicates that that Beringia was a productive grassland inhabited by large mammals (steppe bison, mammoth, horse, lion, musk-oxen, sheep, wholly
rhinoceros, and caribou) and would have had sufficient carrying capacity to support a small group of humans while constraining population growth. 

The authors believe the small human group had little impact on the landscape and that the population was relatively stable. However, in its continued isolation, this group experienced substantial genetic diversification which accounts for much of today's genetic diversity among Native Americans. Moreover, the authors note, this period corresponds with an era when access to the North American continent was blocked by the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets.

The final stage began when glaciers retreated approximately 17,000 years before present. The glacial retreat  opened a passage to North America and simultaneously began the flooding of Beringa. The authors believe  that the small group of Native American ancestors were cut off from Asia by the flooding and moved rapidly to colonize the new world. They estimate the initial population was relatively small, on the order of 5,400 people and suggest there was rapid growth in the population, perhaps as much as a 16-fold increase. Moreover, they  note that the proposed timing is consistent with the development of the Clovis culture in North America as well as selected pre-Clovis sites dating as early as 15,000 years before present. 

While several of the authors' assumptions will require further testing, this is an impressive article. In addition to the statistical analyzes, it integrates considerable archaeological evidence and abundant notes will open the field of study to those who have not followed it thus far. 

Joan Brenner Coltrain, Joel C. Janetski, and Shawn W. Carlyle,  "The stable- and radio-isotope chemistry of western Basketmaker burials: implications for early Puebloan diets and origins,"  American Antiquity

Mark D.Varien,  Scott G. Ortman,  Timothy A. Kohler, Donna M. Glowacki,  and C. David Johnson,  "Historical ecology in the Mesa Verde region: Results from the village ecodynamics project," American Antiquity 2007