eThis research will examine the long-term ecological effects of land use intensity in two different ecosystem types of the southwestern US which supported prehistoric agriculture from 1200-1400 AD. The investigations will focus across a gradient of known prehistoric human activity in arid and semi-arid ecosystems of central Arizona that represent contrasting degrees of human occupation, both in population and duration. In each system, the importance of land use intensity on modern ecological properties and processes will be evaluated by comparing areas of high intensity use (irrigated silt fields) with areas of relative low use (rain-fed terraces) and nearby areas where there is no archaeological evidence of human land use (off-site controls).
This unique perspective, accessible only through the archaeological record, will provide us with an understanding of the importance of humans and their varied land use activities as drivers of persistent ecological patterns and processes. The broader impacts of this research will include interaction and knowledge exchange between students (both undergraduate and graduate), faculty, members of local Native American communities for whom these lands are ancestral, and land managers at the Agua Fria National Monument and Tonto National Forest.
