Abstract
Puebloan peoples in most times and places used various dry farm agricultural techniques to produce their crops. Related prehistoric populations who once lived in the Mojave Desert, however, had to rely on riverine agriculture owing to the region's extreme aridity. Because there currently is no direct evidence of how Puebloans living in the Mojave Desert practiced agriculture, their specific techniques can only be inferred. A cross-cultural review of non-industrialized groups living in similar settings, both in the Mojave Desert and elsewhere, is presented in order to explore the range of methods that could have been used by the eleventh-century community of Pueblo Grande de Nevada. Although floodplain irrigation was more than likely practiced to some degree, flood recession agriculture is offered here as an alternative technique that resolves critical problems posed by the natural and sociological setting. Other findings from the cross-cultural review include implications about the facilities constructed, overall reliance on agriculture, labor and authority, and the rise and fall of the Pueblo Grande de Nevada community.
Published Version
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