Aggregation and Abandonment at Grasshopper Pueblo, Arizona

AbstractShortly after 1300 A.C. small dispersed pueblos in the Grasshopper region of east-central Arizona were abandoned and succeeded over a short period of time by a settlement system characterized by large nucleated pueblos. This transition followed expansion of agricultural productivity and development of an extensive exchange network. This subsistence-settlement system, at first successful, was ultimately abandoned as groups failed to intensify agricultural production through technological improvements or changes in sociopolitical organization in order to counter short-term resource variation. These findings support the hypothesis that as population size and density of interdependent communities increase without adaptive socio-cultural changes, the likelihood of regional system collapse is enhanced by environmental fluctuation.