Historic and bioarchaeological evidence supports late onset of post-Columbian epidemics in Native California

Abstract

Significance The idea of precipitous continent-wide population decline beginning ca. 1492 has long influenced ecological and social narratives of North America. We analyze the largest systematic dataset of mortality records ( n = 33,715 individuals) yet compiled across North America coupling archaeological and historic data to evaluate the nature and timing of Indigenous depopulation in what is now called central California. Findings indicate that mortality risk consistent with a plague-like age-at-death structure began after sustained contact with European invaders ca. AD 1770, suggesting that major depopulation began relatively late in this and possibly other isolated regions of North America. Our analysis does not support a "rebound" in native flora and fauna as a consequence of hypothesized epidemics before the first colonial settlements.