Settlement and conflict distribution responses to paleoclimate variation on the Columbia Plateau

Abstract

Semi-subterranean house occupation in the southern Columbia Plateau of Western North America was episodic over the latter half of the Holocene. Several analyses of radiocarbon chronologies for house features have emphasized environmental change as a primary catalyst of shifts in subsistence strategies and house settlement. Our analysis incorporates summed probability distributions of radiocarbon dates for house occupations, climatic conditions, and evidence of conflict to assess the relationship among the three variables. Climate change is outlined using previously published proxy data. Results of our analysis indicate that climate had a strong influence on the settlement systems of the southern Columbia Plateau. Along with the direct influence of climate on resource availability, conflict became more frequent when house communities became larger. Developing a greater understanding of the cause and effect, and timing of environmental and social changes will ultimately require more robust datasets for house occupations, simulations of demographic trajectories, and higher resolution temporal and spatial models of climate change on the Columbia Plateau.