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ThejuniperandpiñontreeswereanimportantresourceforancientPuebloansinthe
MesaVerderegion,especiallyassourcesofbeamsforbuildingmaterial(Adamsand
Petersen1999:22–23).Thesetreeswereespeciallyimportantafterresourcesbecame
depletedinsomepartsoftheregionasaresultofhumanactivity(AdamsandBowyer
2002;Kohleretal.2005).Roofingbeamsweresalvagedwhenstructureswereaban-
doned;peoplereusedgoodbeamswhenconstructingnewbuildings(importantissuein
termsofchronologybasedonthetreerings).Treesandshrubsalsoprovidedfueland
materialfortools.
Themostcommonwildfauna(Driver2002:143–160;Smith2002:32–33)important
toancientPueblopeopleintheMesaVerdeareaincludecottontails(Sylvilagus),jackrab-
bits(Lepus),muledeer(Odocoileushemionus),bighornsheep(Oviscanadensis),ante-
lope(Antilocapraamericana)and,lesscommonly,elk(Cervuselaphus).Turkey
(Meleagrisgallopavo)wasalsoveryimportantinthedietofAncestralPuebloans,but
duringthethirteenthcenturyA.D.mostturkeyconsumedwasfromdomesticatedrather
thanwildturkeys(Driver2002:151).Otherspeciesofmammalsandbirdsthatwere
usedrelativelylessincludesuchspeciesasbobcat(Lynxrufus),coyote(Canislatrans),
greyfox(Urocyoncineroargenteus),andrarely,especiallyinMesaVerdeproper,black
bear(Ursusamericanus)andmountainlion(Felisconcolor)(Smith2002:32–33).
Duringthe2,000yearsofPuebloanoccupationoftheMesaVerderegiontherewere
changesinthenaturalenvironment.Somechangesledtoshiftsinsettlementpatterning
andevenmigrationsanddepopulationofthearea(DeanandVanWest2002;Kohleret
al.2005;VanWestandDean2000).Significantclimatechange(especiallyaseriesof
coldanddryyears)thatprobablycoincidedresourcedepletion(forexample,deforesta-
tionnearsettlements),occurredabout900A.D.orduringtheearlyPuebloIIperiod.
Theseconditionsprobablycausedapartialdepopulationoftheregion(Kohleretal.
2005;LipeandVarien1999a:253,265).
ClimaticperturbationsandvariabilityinthethirteenthcenturyA.D.werebrought
aboutbytheGreatDrought(A.D.1276–1299)inthenorthernSanJuanregionandepi-
sodescolder-than-normaltemperatures(sometimesconnectedwiththebeginningofthe
LittleIceAgeca.1200A.D.inmanypartsoftheworldincludingNorthAmerica).
ThesefactorsareconsideredbymanyresearcherstobetheprimaryreasonsthatPuebloan
societiesmigratedsouthandsoutheastoutoftheMesaVerderegion,leavingtheregion
depopulatedbytheendofthirteenthcenturyA.D.ThehighelevationofthecentralMesa
Verderegionmakesitsusceptibletochangesintemperature,andthusthesevariations
mighthaveaffectedancientsocietieslivinginthisregionmorethanthoselivingatlow-
erelevations(Kohleratal.2005).Itisalsoprobablethattheregionwasdepletedofwood
bothforfuelandforbuildingsbythelatethirteenthcenturyA.D.(KohlerandMatthews
1998;Kohleretal.2005),butitdoesn’tseemthatwasoneofthecontributingfactorsof
migrationfromMesaVerderegioninthisperiod(Varienetal.2007:291–292).However,
deforestationisoftenconsideredoneofthemaincausesofcollapseormigrationindif-
ferentancientsocietiesaroundtheworld,forexampleintermsofMayaculture(Źrałka
2008afterShaw2003)orotherpartsoftheworldincludingancientMesopotamia.
AreductioninthenumberofanimalsthatPuebloansintheMesaVerdeareahunted,such
asmuledeerconnectedwithotherfactors,mightalsohavecontributedtodecisionsto
migrate(Kohleretal.2005;Varienetal.2007).