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Science 14 September 1979:
Vol. 205. no. 4411, pp. 1089 - 1101
DOI: 10.1126/science.205.4411.1089
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Articles

The Colorado Plateaus: Cultural Dynamics and Paleoenvironment

Robert C. Euler 1, George J. Gumerman 2, Thor N. V. Karlstrom 3, Jeffrey S. Dean 4, and Richard H. Hevly 5

1 Research anthropologist at Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona 86023, and an adjunct professor of anthropology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
2 Professor and chairman of the Department of Anthropology and director of the Center for Archaeological Investigations at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale 62901
3 Geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001, and an adjunct professor of geology at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff
4 Professor in the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721
5 Associate professor of botany at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff 86001

Convergent archeological, geological, palynological, dendrochronological, and radiometric data provide a paleoenvironmental record for the American Southwest at a level of detail and time resolution not previously achieved. Many prehistoric cultural and demographic changes on the Colorado Plateaus coincided with environmental fluctuations defined by precisely dated geoclimatic and bioclimatic indicators. These coincidences support the interpretation that socioeconomic changes and population displacements were commonly triggered by environmental stress.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Late Holocene Climate and Cultural Changes in the Southwestern United States.
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Holocene paleolakes of Lake Canyon, Colorado Plateau: Paleoclimate and landscape response from sedimentology and allostratigraphy.
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