# data[].attributes.headline
1200-1350 AD                                                            This quote was telling how the environment ended cahokia "Around A.D. 1200, weather patterns across North America shifted, and a transcontinental jet stream that once pulled life-giving rains from the Gulf of Mexico began funneling cold air from the bone-dry Arctic. "We switch to profound drought at A.D. 1350, Bird says. It was the start of the Little Ice Age. The dry spell wouldn't break for up to 500 more years, according to the Lake Martincalcite sediments".

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1200-1350 AD                                                            This quote was telling how the environment ended cahokia "Around A.D. 1200, weather patterns across North America shifted, and a transcontinental jet stream that once pulled life-giving rains from the Gulf of Mexico began funneling cold air from the bone-dry Arctic. "We switch to profound drought at A.D. 1350, Bird says. It was the start of the Little Ice Age. The dry spell wouldn't break for up to 500 more years, according to the Lake Martincalcite sediments".

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1200-1350 AD

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 This quote was talking about how the population of the Native Americans declined between 1900CE -1492 because of the Europain colonization. 1900 CE- 1492"Native American populations declined between 1492 and 1900 CE, instigated by the European colonization of the Americas. However, the magnitude, tempo, and ecological effects of this depopulation remain the source of enduring debates. Recently, scholars have linked indigenous demographic decline, Neotropical reforestation, and shifting fire regimes to global changes in climate, atmosphere, and the Early Anthropocene hypothesis. In light of these studies, we assess these processes in conifer-dominated forests of the Southwest United States. We compare light detection and ranging data, archaeology, dendrochronology, and historical records from the Jemez Province of New Mexico to quantify population losses, establish dates of depopulation events, and determine the extent and timing of forest regrowth and fire regimes between 1492 and 1900. We present a new formula for the estimation of Pueblo population based on architectural remains and apply this formula to 18 archaeological sites in the Jemez Province. A dendrochronological study of remnant wood establishes dates of terminal occupation at these sites. By combining our results with historical records, we report a model of pre- and post-Columbian population dynamics in the Jemez Province. Our results indicate that the indigenous population of the Jemez Province declined by 87% following European colonization but that this reduction occurred nearly a century after initial contact. Depopulation also triggered an increase in the frequency of extensive surface fires between 1640 and 1900. Ultimately, this study illustrates the quality of integrated archaeological and paleoecological data needed to assess the links between Native American:population decline and ecological change after European contact".

# data[].attributes.subject
 This quote was talking about how the population of the Native Americans declined between 1900CE -1492 because of the Europain colonization. 1900 CE- 1492"Native American populations declined between 1492 and 1900 CE, instigated by the European colonization of the Americas. However, the magnitude, tempo, and ecological effects of this depopulation remain the source of enduring debates. Recently, scholars have linked indigenous demographic decline, Neotropical reforestation, and shifting fire regimes to global changes in climate, atmosphere, and the Early Anthropocene hypothesis. In light of these studies, we assess these processes in conifer-dominated forests of the Southwest United States. We compare light detection and ranging data, archaeology, dendrochronology, and historical records from the Jemez Province of New Mexico to quantify population losses, establish dates of depopulation events, and determine the extent and timing of forest regrowth and fire regimes between 1492 and 1900. We present a new formula for the estimation of Pueblo population based on architectural remains and apply this formula to 18 archaeological sites in the Jemez Province. A dendrochronological study of remnant wood establishes dates of terminal occupation at these sites. By combining our results with historical records, we report a model of pre- and post-Columbian population dynamics in the Jemez Province. Our results indicate that the indigenous population of the Jemez Province declined by 87% following European colonization but that this reduction occurred nearly a century after initial contact. Depopulation also triggered an increase in the frequency of extensive surface fires between 1640 and 1900. Ultimately, this study illustrates the quality of integrated archaeological and paleoecological data needed to assess the links between Native American:population decline and ecological change after European contact".

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1900CE-1492

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In the 1600's Native Americans Traded along the great lakes  before the Europeans arrived.                       "Native Americans traded along the waterways of present-day Minnesota and across the Great Lakes for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in the mid-1600s. For nearly 200 years afterward, European American traders exchanged manufactured goods with Native people for valuable furs".

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In the 1600's Native Americans Traded along the great lakes  before the Europeans arrived.                       "Native Americans traded along the waterways of present-day Minnesota and across the Great Lakes for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in the mid-1600s. For nearly 200 years afterward, European American traders exchanged manufactured goods with Native people for valuable furs".

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1600

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 This quote is talking about Bondage was not a new concept to Native Americans in the South. Long before the arrival of Europeans, most tribes in the region had practiced a traditional form of kinship slavery. This type of slavery differed significantly, however, from that practiced by the Europeans who first witnessed it. As was often the case, white observers were influenced by their own cultural experience and tended to view native practices through the same lens. Hence, when explorers from Hernando de Soto on encountered kinship-based bondage, they described it according to the master-slave paradigm they knew themselves. Although incorrect in describing kinship slavery in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the European-style slavery paradigm would be an apt portrayal of the form of plantation slavery that American Indians were practicing in the southeastern United States by the nineteenth century.

# data[].attributes.subject
 This quote is talking about Bondage was not a new concept to Native Americans in the South. Long before the arrival of Europeans, most tribes in the region had practiced a traditional form of kinship slavery. This type of slavery differed significantly, however, from that practiced by the Europeans who first witnessed it. As was often the case, white observers were influenced by their own cultural experience and tended to view native practices through the same lens. Hence, when explorers from Hernando de Soto on encountered kinship-based bondage, they described it according to the master-slave paradigm they knew themselves. Although incorrect in describing kinship slavery in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the European-style slavery paradigm would be an apt portrayal of the form of plantation slavery that American Indians were practicing in the southeastern United States by the nineteenth century.

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This article was talking about native American tribes allied with the British in the Revolutionary war. 1891 "Many Native American tribes allied with the British during the Revolutionary War. However, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, was silent on the fates of these British allies. The new United States government was thus free to acquire Native American lands by treaty or force. Resistance from the tribes stopped the encroachment of settlers, at least for a while". "After the Revolutionary War, the United States maintained the British policy of treaty-making with the Native American tribes. In general, the treaties were to define the boundaries of Native American lands and to compensate for the taking of lands. Often, however, the treaties were not ratified by the Senate, and thus were not necessarily deemed enforceable by the U.S. government, leaving issues unresolved".

# data[].attributes.subject
This article was talking about native American tribes allied with the British in the Revolutionary war. 1891 "Many Native American tribes allied with the British during the Revolutionary War. However, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, was silent on the fates of these British allies. The new United States government was thus free to acquire Native American lands by treaty or force. Resistance from the tribes stopped the encroachment of settlers, at least for a while". "After the Revolutionary War, the United States maintained the British policy of treaty-making with the Native American tribes. In general, the treaties were to define the boundaries of Native American lands and to compensate for the taking of lands. Often, however, the treaties were not ratified by the Senate, and thus were not necessarily deemed enforceable by the U.S. government, leaving issues unresolved".

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"Native Americans and Slavery ." Gale Library of Daily Life: Slavery in America. . Encyclopedia.com. 28 Dec. 2021 .https://www.pnas.org/content/113/6/E696

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"Native Americans and Slavery ." Gale Library of Daily Life: Slavery in America. . Encyclopedia.com. 28 Dec. 2021 .https://www.pnas.org/content/113/6/E696

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https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/united-states-governments-relationship-native-americans/
The Fur Trade | Historic Fort Snelling | MNHS
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/02/10/513963490/1-000-years-ago-corn-made-this-society-big-then-a-changing-climate-destroyed-the

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Significance

Debates about the magnitude, tempo, and ecological effects of Native American depopulation after 1492 CE constitute some of the most contentious issues in American Indian history. Was population decline rapid and catastrophic, with effects extensive enough to change even the earth's atmosphere? Or was depopulation more moderate, with indigenous numbers declining slowly after European colonization? Through a study of archaeology and dendrochronology, we conclude that neither of these scenarios accurately characterizes Pueblo peoples in the Southwest United States. Among the Jemez pueblos of New Mexico, depopulation struck swiftly and irrevocably, but occurred nearly a century after first contact with Europeans. This population crash subsequently altered the local environment, spurring the growth of trees and facilitating the spread of frequent forest fires.

Abstract

Native American populations declined between 1492 and 1900 CE, instigated by the European colonization of the Americas. However, the magnitude, tempo, and ecological effects of this depopulation remain the source of enduring debates. Recently, scholars have linked indigenous demographic decline, Neotropical reforestation, and shifting fire regimes to global changes in climate, atmosphere, and the Early Anthropocene hypothesis. In light of these studies, we assess these processes in conifer-dominated forests of the Southwest United States. We compare light detection and ranging data, archaeology, dendrochronology, and historical records from the Jemez Province of New Mexico to quantify population losses, establish dates of depopulation events, and determine the extent and timing of forest regrowth and fire regimes between 1492 and 1900. We present a new formula for the estimation of Pueblo population based on architectural remains and apply this formula to 18 archaeological sites in the Jemez Province. A dendrochronological study of remnant wood establishes dates of terminal occupation at these sites. By combining our results with historical records, we report a model of pre- and post-Columbian population dynamics in the Jemez Province. Our results indicate that the indigenous population of the Jemez Province declined by 87% following European colonization but that this reduction occurred nearly a century after initial contact. Depopulation also triggered an increase in the frequency of extensive surface fires between 1640 and 1900. Ultimately, this study illustrates the quality of integrated archaeological and paleoecological data needed to assess the links between Native American population decline and ecological change after European contact.

Study Area

The Jemez Province is a physiographic and cultural region of northern New Mexico located in the southwest quadrant of the Jemez Mountains, 55 km north of Albuquerque and 65 km west of Santa Fe ( Fig. 1A) ( 26). Physiographically it is defined by the Rio Guadalupe, Jemez River, and Vallecitos Creek drainages. These streams run through deep canyons surrounded by towering, flat-topped mesas. Today these mesas are covered with continuous stands of conifer-dominated middle elevation forests comprised of ponderosa pine, gambel oak, piñon, and juniper trees ( Pinus ponderosa, Quercus gambelli, Pinus edulis, and Juniperus spp., respectively). Culturally, the Jemez Province is defined by the distribution of archaeological sites exhibiting high frequencies (>30%) of Jemez black-on-white ceramics. These sites are culturally affiliated with Towa-speaking Pueblo peoples living west of the Rio Grande ( 26). Their descendants constitute the modern Pueblo of Jemez, a federally recognized Indian tribe and sovereign nation. Today nearly 2,000 Jemez tribal members live at the village of Walatowa (also known as Jemez Pueblo), located at the southern end of the Jemez Province.

Between 1300 and 1600, the Jemez Province emerged as a center of ancestral Puebloan settlement in the northern Rio Grande region ( 27, 28). During that period, Jemez people constructed more than 30 villages of multistoried stone masonry architecture surrounding enclosed plazas, ranging in size from 50 to more than 1,500 rooms ( 26). They also built more than 3,000 one- and two-room secondary settlements known as "field houses," which were located outside the large villages among agricultural fields and occupied seasonally ( 29). For this study, we focused exclusively on large village sites to quantify ancestral Jemez populations because ethnohistorical and archaeological studies suggest that field house occupants maintained permanent residences at the large villages ( 30). Today these large village sites consist of rubble mounds formed from collapsed architecture ( Fig. 1 B and C).

The first direct encounter between the indigenous inhabitants of the Jemez Province and Europeans occurred in 1541 ( 31). Interactions remained sporadic for the next eight decades, even after the 1598 establishment of Spanish colonial settlements in New Mexico. In the 1620s, Franciscan friars constructed two Catholic missions among the Jemez with the explicit intent of gathering the residents of the Province into centralized facilities (a policy known as congregación).

Debates about the size of 16th and 17th century populations of the Jemez Province mirror those for North America as a whole. High counters estimate 30,000 residents or more on the eve of European contact, whereas skeptics reckon populations 1/10th that size ( 29, 32, 33). A dearth of census data hampers the construction of accurate estimates, with no vital records of births or deaths in the Jemez Province surviving the 17th century. A smattering of historical references present a wide range of population estimates and reported number of villages occupied between 1541 and 1650 ( Table 1). The general trend of these estimates indicates demographic decline throughout the 17th century, both in terms of total population and number of occupied villages. However, archaeological studies challenge the reliability of these historical chronicles. Kulisheck's analysis of 30 field house sites in the Jemez Province documents intensified use during the period 1525-1650. He concludes that the region did not suffer a significant population decline between these years and that "disease may not have been a major factor in demographic change" during the 17th century ( 29, 34). Similarly, although Spanish colonial accounts assert that the Jemez vacated the vast majority of their villages by the mid-17th century under congregación, ceramic assemblages at many of these sites contain pottery produced by Pueblo women up to 1700. The presence of these late 17th century ceramics (specifically Rio Grande Glaze F pottery) has led archaeologists to suggest that the large villages of the Jemez Province harbored sizeable populations even after 1650, calling into question accounts of demographic collapse contained in historical documents ( 26, 32, 35, 36).

Based on previous studies of post-Columbian Native American demography, we set out to evaluate four competing hypotheses regarding Jemez population dynamics in the 16th and 17th centuries: ( i) large-scale depopulation occurred before direct Pueblo-European contact, as a result of pandemic disease events that swept north from central Mexico in the 1520s-1530s (the Dobyns hypothesis) ( 3); ( ii) the largest losses occurred from 1541 to 1598, between the first direct contacts and the establishment of permanent colonial settlements (the contact hypothesis) ( 37, 38); ( iii) population decline occurred during the early colonial period (1598-1680), after the establishment of missions and sustained daily interactions between Puebloans and Spaniards (the mission hypothesis) ( 39); or ( iv) no large scale population changes occurred before 1680 (the null hypothesis) ( 29). To evaluate these hypotheses in light of Early Anthropocene research, we quantified the magnitude of population losses, refined the timing of depopulation events, and studied the effects of demographic decline on forest composition and fire regimes in the Jemez Province.

To quantify the population of the Jemez Province immediately before European contact, we identified 18 ancestral Jemez villages that were occupied during the period between 1480 and 1520 ( Table 2). We then estimated the population of these villages through a measurement of their architecture using LiDAR data (Methods). Dating of these occupations is based on tree-ring sequences from architectural wood unearthed in previous archaeological excavations and the presence of Rio Grande Glaze D ceramics (production dates of 1480-1550). This group comprises all villages larger than 10 rooms in the Jemez Province known to date to the latter 15th and early 16th centuries ( 26). Note, however, that occupations of these sites were not limited solely to this era. Most were founded during the 14th or 15th centuries and hosted populations into the 17th century.

To determine the timing of terminal occupations at Jemez villages, we conducted a tree establishment study of remnant wood and old growth trees growing within 120 m of the plaza architecture at these sites (Methods). Our analysis suggests that the terrain surrounding Jemez villages was denuded of trees during periods of human occupation due to demands for wood used in construction, heating, and cooking. Accordingly, we can use the date that trees began to regrow on these sites as a proxy for their final inhabitation. We measured tree establishment dates to provide evidence for the timing of depopulation at these villages. Furthermore, we analyzed tree-ring fire scar data from within the Jemez Province and from locations throughout the larger Jemez Mountains region to examine the effects of depopulation on fire regimes in both local and regional contexts.

Results

The results of our population study reveal that the large villages of the Jemez Province could have housed a maximum of 9,903 persons in the late 1400s to early 1500s. However, this figure overestimates momentary population as it neglects to account for what Schact ( 40) terms "the contemporaneity problem." That is, this maximum estimate assumes occupation of every square meter of every room at every site across the Jemez Province for the entire period in question. To account for unoccupied architecture, rooms built after this period, and fluctuations in occupation at each of the sites, we follow previous studies of Pueblo population in applying ratios of the average amount of occupied to total architecture at these sites ( 41⇓ ⇓ ⇓ ⇓ - 46). To allow for the widest range of possibilities, we report pre-Hispanic population figures as a range representing occupation between 50% and 80% of the rooms in the Jemez Province ( Table 2). Based on these figures, we calculate that the 18 Jemez villages occupied at the turn of the 16th century housed between 4,951 and 7,922 inhabitants, or ∼5,000-8,000 persons.

Our tree establishment studies suggest that wide-scale depopulation occurred at Jemez villages between 1620 and 1640. We measured dates of ponderosa pine establishment at the pueblos of Kiatsukwa, Kwastiyukwa, and Tovakwa and found that tree growth began in the 1630s and 1640s, with additional pulses of tree recruitment occurring in the subsequent three decades ( Fig. 2). Based on these tree establishment records, we estimate termini ante quem for the occupation of these villages in the 1640s. Estimates of terminal inhabitations in the 1640s represent a significant revision of previous assessments. Based solely on ceramic cross-dating, prior estimates had posited dates of final occupation up to 60 y later ( 26, 33, 36). Note that our study investigated population dynamics at large village sites only, however. Whereas we are confident that the terminal inhabitation of these villages dates to between 1620 and 1640, it is likely that smaller agricultural sites such as field houses remained in use for decades thereafter throughout the Jemez Province ( 29, 34, 35).

The depopulation of large Jemez villages prompted a shift in fire regimes throughout the Province. The fire history of 198 trees sampled in the Monument Canyon Research Natural Area (MCN), an unlogged 259-ha stand of old-growth ponderosa pines located within the Jemez Province ( Fig. 1A), shows that spreading surface fires increased in frequency after 1620. This increase coincides with the expansion of Franciscan evangelical efforts and the construction of two Catholic missions in the Jemez Province, as well as the early stages of depopulation at the large villages ( Fig. 3 and Fig. S1). Fire scars from MCN indicate that before 1620, extensive surface fires burned through the Province once every 17 y ( n = 7 extensive fires between 1500 and 1619). After 1620, fine fuels increased on a scale sufficient to convey extensive surface fires once every 10.9 y ( n = 11 extensive fires between 1620 and 1739). This rise in the number of spreading surface fires indicates that reforestation occurred during the mid- to late 17th century, a result of changing land use patterns brought on by the depopulation of large villages throughout the Jemez Province. This fire regime continued into the late 1800s, when intensive livestock grazing and policies of fire suppression disrupted incidents of widespread fire once again ( 47).

The MCN dataset has the advantage of being contained entirely within the Jemez Province, in close proximity to the sites we used to generate our population estimates. However, to evaluate the broader effects of depopulation throughout the northern Rio Grande region, we used a larger sample of 1,377 fire-scarred trees from across the Jemez Mountains region (which includes data from MCN and other locations within the Jemez Province, as well as the Valles Caldera to the north and the Pajarito Plateau to the east; Fig. S2). This larger regional dataset reveals an increase in landscape-scale fires after 1620 as well ( Fig. 4 B and C). Between 1500 and 1619, landscape-scale fires (defined as evidence for burning in greater than 25% of sampled trees) burned across the Jemez Mountains only once every 60 y ( n = 2). Between 1621 and 1900, landscape-scale fires occurred once every 16.5 y ( n = 17). At the same time, landscape-scale fire synchrony increased, suggesting the importance of top-down climatic controls on fire activity ( 48).

Discussion

Comparing our LiDAR-based population estimates and tree-ring data to the 17th century documentary records produced by colonial Spaniards reveals the tempo of depopulation in the Jemez Province ( Fig. 4A). Our archaeological estimate of 5,000-8,000 residents accords with the record of fray Geronimo Zárate Salmerón, a Franciscan friar stationed among the Jemez between 1621 and 1626. During his stint in the Province, fray Geronimo chronicled the baptism of 6,566 "souls" ( 49). This figure sits remarkably close to the mean of our 5,000- to 8,000-person archaeological calculation, at 63% of the maximum regional population estimate. Combined with Kulisheck's evidence for sustained relative populations from field house data ( 29, 32⇓ ⇓ - 35), the archaeological evidence and Zárate Salmerón's record suggest a modicum of demographic continuity from pre-Hispanic times into the early colonial period in the Jemez Province. In other words, the preponderance of historical and archaeological evidence indicates that no large-scale demographic collapse occurred before the first direct contacts between the Jemez and Europeans (pre-1541) or during the period of early Spanish exploration, before the establishment of permanent colonial settlements (1541-1598).

Following the expansion of missionary efforts in the 1620s, Spanish colonial records register a large-scale diminution of the Jemez population over the subsequent 20 y ( Table 1). Half the populace reportedly succumbed to two waves of epidemic diseases, violence, and famine by 1630, leaving just 3,000 remaining in the Province ( 50). The number of Jemez residents further dropped to just 1,860 persons by 1644, according to colonial records ( 51). At the same time, tree rings record the recruitment of ponderosa pines at large Jemez villages during this period. Dendrochronology provides a source of data independent of Spanish colonial records to objectively assess the timing of depopulation. Tree establishment dates indicate termini ante quem in the 1630s-1640s for these sites. We are confident that these dates represent the cessation of occupation and not the limits of dendrochronology in the region because trees sampled from other locales in the Jemez Province regularly show evidence of establishment dates in the early 1500s, with occasional dates as early as 1300. If terminal occupations of these sites occurred earlier or later than 1640, we would expect corresponding evidence for tree recruitment (Methods).

The recruitment of ponderosa pine stands after the depopulation of large Jemez villages coincided with a shift in fire regimes and an increase in the number and synchrony of spreading surface fires between 1640 and 1900. Despite the increase in frequency of extensive fires following the 17th century demographic collapse, the recovering forest would have sequestered more carbon than the more open anthropogenic landscape ( 52). Furthermore, the establishment of more regular extensive fires would have promoted the recruitment and maintenance of large diameter trees in higher densities than under the previous, anthropogenically formed regime.

By 1681, the resident population of the Jemez Province had gathered en masse at the village of Patokwa (LA 96) ( 53). According to our LiDAR-based architectural estimates, Patokwa housed a maximum population of 833 persons in the early 1680s. Again, this archaeologically derived estimate accords well with historical documentation. Spanish military journals record that, in 1694, after more than a decade of drought, migration, and violent conflict, the resident population of the Jemez Province stood at less than 600 persons ( 53). Thus, in the six decades between 1620 and 1680, the population of the Jemez Province declined from ∼6,500 to less than 850, a loss of 87%.

Implications

Archaeological, historical, and dendrochronological data from the Jemez Province combine to paint a picture of demographic stability at large Pueblo villages between 1492 and 1620, with drastic declines in the subsequent six decades. This finding supports the third of our working hypotheses, the mission hypothesis, and refutes the Dobyns, contact, and null hypotheses. Archaeological and historical records attest to demographic stability across the pre-Hispanic/early contact period (1480-1620). Widespread depopulation at large village sites began between 1620 and 1640, following the establishment of Franciscan missions in the region ( Fig. 4A). Historical records suggest that a deadly combination of pestilence, warfare, and famine initiated the depopulation of large Jemez villages ( 50, 54). Archaeological studies indicate that dispersion to field house sites and migration to other regions could account for some of this population reduction as well ( 29, 32⇓ ⇓ - 35, 55).

Our population reconstruction contrasts with recent studies of Pueblo demography that hypothesize little to no depopulation before 1680 ( 29, 32⇓ ⇓ ⇓ - 36), as well as radical high counter models proposing catastrophic depopulation beginning in the 16th century ( 37, 56, 57). Evidence for large-scale depopulation concomitant with the establishment of missions can also be found in other regions of the Southwest United States. Specifically, Eckert's paleodemographic study of burial data from the village of Hawikku found "that the Zuni did not suffer a massive population decline due to epidemic diseases until after the Spanish mission was built at Hawikku in 1629" ( 39). The mission hypothesis is also supported by Ubelaker's calculations of Southwestern demography culled from data in the Handbook of North American Indians ( 56). Ubelaker estimates that the steepest population declines occurred in the 17th century, only after the establishment of permanent colonial and missionary settlements among the Pueblos.

To evaluate the Early Anthropocene burning hypothesis, scholars need accurate assessments of the timing, magnitude, and effects of post-Columbian indigenous depopulation at regional scales throughout North and South America. Archaeological evidence from the Jemez Province supports the notion that the European colonization of the Americas unleashed forces that ultimately destroyed a staggering number of human lives. However, unlike in the Neotropics and the Eastern United States, where fires decreased after 1492, landscape-scale fire events in the Southwest United States increased substantially following European colonization. These changes in population and fire regimes in the Southwest United States occurred nearly a century later than the Amazonian cases frequently posited in support of the Early Anthropocene burning hypothesis. Nevertheless, the net effect of population decline and ponderosa pine reforestation in the Jemez Province was one of carbon sequestration. Similar processes may have occurred in other pine-dominant landscapes across the Western United States. In combination, their reforestation could have amplified the drop in global CO ₂ recorded in Antarctic ice core records ( 16, 18, 19) ( Fig. 4 D and F). However, reliably extrapolating data from the Western United States to global scales requires further investigation of the extent of human occupation and forest modification in those other locales.

This study demonstrates that the timing of initial post-Columbian depopulation events in the Southwest United States were not coterminous with initial episodes in the Andes, central and southern Amazonia, Central Mexico, or the Caribbean. Within North America, the data from the Jemez Province add to a growing body of archaeological evidence attesting to the variegated nature of post-Columbian indigenous population decline. The timing and severity of depopulation events varied across the continent. Archaeological evidence fails to support the notion that sweeping pandemics uniformly depopulated North America ( 58⇓ ⇓ ⇓ ⇓ ⇓ ⇓ - 65). As a result, we caution against expanding data from any single region to continental, hemispheric, or global scales in support of the Early Anthropocene burning hypothesis.

Our study presents further evidence that simplistic assumptions about human-fire relationships should be discarded ( 66). Although sample depth is limited for the pre-mission period occupation of the Jemez Province (ca. 1300-1620 CE), the available tree-ring records indicate that surface fires were suppressed in the vicinity of large villages but that small fires were common in agricultural, hunting, and more remote settings ( Figs. 3 and 4 B and C). Such a complex mosaic of fire regimes is consistent with existing models of anthropogenic pyrodiversity, with likely consequences for biodiversity and carbon budgets ( 67). The assumption that more (indigenous) people equates to more fire activity ( 68) fails to accurately characterize these complex conditions. Rather, Early Anthropocene research requires nuanced considerations of fire use and fuel impacts within specific cultural contexts ( 66, 69⇓ - 71). Pan-regional, continental, and hemispheric syntheses of human-fire relationships that rest on simplistic assumptions will continue to be of limited use in evaluating the Early Anthropocene burning hypothesis until they consider the spatial heterogeneity of population histories, fire histories, and land-use behavior.

Methods

Acknowledgments

We thank the people of the Pueblo of Jemez for partnering on this research and sharing their rich culture and history with us, particularly Paul Tosa, Chris Toya, Francis Vigil, and the staff of the Jemez Department of Natural Resources. We also thank the other members of the Jemez Fire and Humans in Resilient Ecosystems research team: Sara Chavarria, T. J. Ferguson, Rachel Loehman, and John Welch. We are particularly grateful for research support provided by Bob Parmenter and Ana Steffen of the Valles Caldera National Preserve, Craig Allen of the US Geological Survey, and Mike Bremer, Jeremy Kulisheck, and Connie Constan of the US Forest Service. This project was supported by a Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH) grant from the National Science Foundation, Award 1114898 (to T.W.S., C.I.R., and M.J.L.).

Footnotes

Author contributions: M.J.L., J.F., C.I.R., and T.W.S. designed research; M.J.L., J.F., A.S., S.M., and T.W.S. performed research; M.J.L., J.F., C.I.R., and T.W.S. analyzed data; and M.J.L., C.I.R., and T.W.S. wrote the paper.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1521744113/-/DCSupplemental.

Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Native American depopulation, reforestation, and fire regimes in the Southwest United States, 1492-1900 CE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Debates about the magnitude, tempo, and ecological effects of Native American depopulation after 1492 CE constitute some of the most contentious issues in American Indian history. Was population decline rapid and catastrophic, with effects extensive enough to change even the earth's atmosphere? Or was depopulation more moderate, with indigenous numbers declining slowly after European colonization?