This session is a midterm progress report on a 3-year project funded by NSF’s Biocomplexity in the Environment Special Competition, on the topic Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems. The aim of the project is to understand via agent-based modeling the joint effects of the social and natural environment on the prehispanic settlement system from the late Basketmaker III period to late Pueblo III period. This paper outlines the history and goals of the project, introduces the remaining papers, and foreshadows some of their preliminary findings.