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Resource Specialization, Population Growth, and Agricultural Production in the American Southwest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert D. Leonard
Robert D. Leonard*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
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Abstract

The prehistoric period of the northern American Southwest is characterized by increased population, increased agricultural production, and regional depopulation. Most current models of evolutionary change that attempt to explain these phenomena are defined at the scale of "culture" or of a specific adaptation, e.g., "Anasazi adaptive system." I suggest that for most purposes these are not productive constructs, and that their application makes useful explanations difficult, if not impossible to formulate. As a further liability, these models ignore the role of natural selection as an explanatory mechanism, preferring instead to seek explanation through the premature application of the concept of adaptation. The application of a selectionist perspective, as opposed to the more popular adaptationist model, leads to the conclusion that the operation of natural selection favoring productive specialization accounts for the characteristics noted above for the prehistoric American Southwest.

Résumé

Résumé

La época prehistórica en el sudoeste norteamericano está caracterizada por aumentos en la producción agricola, aumentos generates en la población, pero tambien casos de despoblación subregiónal. La mayoría de los patrones modernos de cambio evoluciónario que intentan explicar estos fenómenos han sido construidos a nivel de una "cultura" o de una adaptación específica, por ejemplo, "el sistema adaptivo de la cultura Anasazi." Yo sugiero que estas entidades no son generalmente productivas, y que su empleo hace dificle o imposible la formulación de explicaciones útiles. Y además, estos patrones desconocen la función de la selección natural como un mecanismo explicativo. Al emplear estos patrones, se pretende hallar ciertas explicaciones que emplean de manera prematura el concepto de la adaptación. El empleo de una perspectiva selecciónista, en contraste con el patron adaptaciónista más popular, resulta en la conclusión de que el funciónamiento de la selección natural quefavorece la especialición productiva, explica las características del sudoeste prehistórico americano descritos al comienzo.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , July 1989 , pp. 491 - 503
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1989

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