Environmental and Chronological Factors in the Mesa Verde-Northern Rio Grande Migration

Abstract

This paper assesses the timing of and the environmental conditions pertaining to a purported migration from the Mesa Verde Region to the Northern Rio Grande Region in the late 13th Century. The concept of an "environmental gradient" extending from one region to the other is presented and developed. Environmental and chronological data derived from dendrochronology are used to examine the possibilities of an environmental "push" and a "pull" occurring at the targeted time. Chronological evidence suggests that the depopulation likely began in the early 1200s but was complete before 1300. Considerable evidence, however, exists for an environmental gradient of the proper dimensions to help explain population movement toward the Rio Grande.