Title: Modeling Critical Resources: Natural Production and Human-Induced Degradation in the Prehistoric Mesa Verde Region.

C. Dave Johnson

Abstract:

This paper reports on efforts to include the natural production and human degradation of what we consider Critical Natural Resources into the agent-based simulation modeling of household settlement patterns. Previous efforts have relied on the agricultural productivity of the Mesa Verde region landscape to account for prehispanic Puebloan household movement through time in the study area. This paper focuses on modeling the effects of natural resources that were likely important sources of faunal protein, construction timber and/or fuel wood, on prehistoric settlement patterns in the region.