Adaptational Continuities and Occupational Discontinuities: The Cedar Mesa Anasazi

Survey of the Cedar Mesa areaSE Utah, has documented three main periods of Anasazi (ancestral Pueblo Indian) occupation: A. c. 200–400 (Basketmaker II); 650–725 (late Basketmaker III); and 1060–1270 (Pueblo II–III). These are separated by intervals of little or no occupation. Despite marked changes in material culture and architecture generally characteristic of the Anasazi sequence, the three Cedar Mesa occupations display similar patterns of settlement and population density (estimated at 0.75 to 1.5 persons/sq km). The basic adaptation throughout is inferred to have been low-intensity farming, with frequent movement of small, dispersed settlements having low investment in fixed facilities. Departures from this basic pattern are described and evaluated, as are processes possibly responsible for the episodic nature of occupation. These include responses to climatic change and the cumulative effects of shifting cultivation.