Environmental Impact of the Anasazi

Paragraph 1：A major question in the archaeology of the southwestern region of the United States is why so many impressive settlements, and even entire regions, were abandoned in prehistoric times. Archaeologist Tim Kohler has suggested that the nature of human-environmental interaction was an important reason in the case of the Anasazi people. The actual case study that Kohler relies on is from the Dolores River basin of southwest Colorado, where the Anasazi seem to have moved in about A.D. 600. Over the following couple of centuries, the population increased, and they aggregated (or gathered) into villages, but by about A.D. 900 the area began to be abandoned. Other archaeologists have identified the immediate cause of this abandonment to be a series of short growing seasons that would have put pressure on corn production at that high an altitude. Kohler, however, asserts that a growing population led to human-environmental interactions that caused people to live in villages, intensify agrarian food production, deforest the region, deplete the local soils, and ultimately abandon the area. 

 

 

1. According to paragraph 1, other archaeologists differ from Tim Kohler in giving which of the following as the reason for the abandonment of settlements by the Anasazi? 

 

O The nature of human interaction with the environment 

 

O A large increase in population over a short period of time 

 

O The way in which people gathered together in villages 

 

O A limited production of corn due to one short growing season after another

 

 

 

2. According to paragraph 1, Kohler views all of the following as changes that occurred as a result of increased population growth EXCEPT 

 

O the organization of the people into villages 

 

O the improvement of local soils

 

O increased food production 

 

O a decrease in the number of trees in the area 

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph 2：Kohler uses several kinds of evidence to show that human effects, not solely climatic factors, were important factors in the abandonment of settlements. One key indicator of change in the environment surrounding these prehistoric settlements is the wood that was used there. Archaeological study of wood charcoal found in hearths dating to the various episodes of occupation indicated that the species use changed in a patterned way. Over time there was a decline in the use of juniper and pinon (native, slow-growing species of trees) and an increase in woody shrubs and fast-growing cottonwood. The species of wood used in the construction of buildings also changed. Fewer pinon were being used, and those that were used seem to be from increasingly old trees, while juniper continued to be from young trees. The implication is that the forest that did remain was changing to relatively more junipers, a tree that is more fire resistant, better able to reproduce in open settings, and less desirable for construction than pinon. Kohler argues that pinon was disappearing from the locale of settlements and that this put an additional nutritional strain on the population, which used nuts from the tree as well as its wood. The relative proportion of different species of animals hunted by people in the region also changed progressively. A final source of evidence was the seeds found in the archaeological deposits, which had blown or been brought to the settlement. As time went on, there was a substantial increase in seeds from pioneer plants, attesting both to agricultural intensification and to an increasingly disturbed local environment. 

 

 

 

3. All of the following are mentioned in paragraph 2 as changes over time in the pattern of wood use in prehistoric settlements EXCEPT: 

 

O Cottonwood was increasingly used in hearths. 

 

O Fewer pinon trees were used in building construction. 

 

O Juniper wood was increasingly used in hearths.

 

O The pinon wood used in construction came increasingly from older trees. 

 

 

 

4. It can be inferred from paragraph 2 that juniper 

 

O is less valuable nutritionally than pinon is

 

O is easily destroyed by fire 

 

O produces fewer seeds per plant than pinon does 

 

O reproduces easily in the presence of pinon 

 

 

 

5. In paragraph 2, why does the author compare the use of juniper with pinon in the construction of buildings? 

 

O To prove that juniper is more suitable for building construction than pinon is 

 

O To indicate that the choice of wood for building construction depended on the age of the tree species 

 

O To support the claim that wood use changed over time in a patterned way

 

O To identify the features of juniper that made the Anasazi use it more often than pinon for constructing buildings 

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph 3：This evidence has convinced Kohler of the importance of human impact in degrading the local environment. His interpretation of the situation is that by about A.D. 840, people had aggregated into villages in favorable settings because of their competitive organizational advantages over smaller units in the face of growing population and depletion of local wild resources. Hence, the very nature of the initial slash-and-burn agriculture encouraged a further dependence on agriculture and the aggregation of people into denser settlements. However, there are costs to aggregation, such as the increasing distance to usable fields, the heavier pressure on local soils, and the accompanying increase in agricultural risk. The Anasazi responded to this by further intensification, such as water-control mechanisms, to feed the increasing population. Such a trajectory is fraught with risks, but it is also pushed forward by advantages it bestows on its participants who organize and cooperate. Advantages might include sharing food across groups in a village, investment in facilities to improve the processing and storage of food, and cooperative labor pools and social groupings larger than villages, which would enable organized long-distance hunts and participation in trading networks. Larger and larger villages became possible, but this also made the system vulnerable to collapse. A reliance on the management of resources through cooperative action reduced their flexibility of action, so that when poor seasons occurred, people were seriously hurt. Thus an expectable aberration in the climatic regime may have been enough to cause the collapse of the village system in the Dolores area. 

 

 

6. According to paragraph 3, which of the following is Kohler’s explanation of the fact that people came together to form villages? 

 

O Combining the population into large villages reduced the negative environmental effects of small social groups. 

 

O As the populations increased, the size of the small social units expanded so much that by A.D. 840 they had grown together forming villages. 

 

O Villages provided the efficient social organization needed to deal with population growth and reduced resources.

 

O Villages formed on the land cleared by the slash and burn agriculture practiced by small social groups. 

 

 

 

7. According to paragraph 3, why did the apparent advantages of larger settlements in fact lead to the failure of the Anasazi village system? 

 

O The large size of the settlements made improving processing and storage of necessary food difficult. 

 

O The trading networks could no longer support the growing needs of large villages. 

 

O The long-distance hunts that had to be organized took too many resources away from the labor pool. 

 

O The management system the people practiced made it difficult to deal appropriately with periods of bad harvests.

 

 

 

8. According to paragraph 3, which of the following was a disadvantage of aggregation? 

 

O People lived farther from the fields in which they worked.

 

O Facilities for food processing and food storage became inadequate. 

 

O Cooperation between the various groups in the management of labor pools became difficult to maintain. 

 

O Networks set up to facilitate trade between the larger villages broke down over time. 

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph 2：Kohler uses several kinds of evidence to show that human effects, not solely climatic factors, were important factors in the abandonment of settlements. One key indicator of change in the environment surrounding these prehistoric settlements is the wood that was used there. Archaeological study of wood charcoal found in hearths dating to the various episodes of occupation indicated that the species use changed in a patterned way. Over time there was a decline in the use of juniper and pinon (native, slow-growing species of trees) and an increase in woody shrubs and fast-growing cottonwood. The species of wood used in the construction of buildings also changed. Fewer pinon were being used, and those that were used seem to be from increasingly old trees, while juniper continued to be from young trees. The implication is that the forest that did remain was changing to relatively more junipers, a tree that is more fire resistant, better able to reproduce in open settings, and less desirable for construction than pinon. Kohler argues that pinon was disappearing from the locale of settlements and that this put an additional nutritional strain on the population, which used nuts from the tree as well as its wood. ■ The relative proportion of different species of animals hunted by people in the region also changed progressively. ■ A final source of evidence was the seeds found in the archaeological deposits, which had blown or been brought to the settlement. ■ As time went on, there was a substantial increase in seeds from pioneer plants, attesting both to agricultural intensification and to an increasingly disturbed local environment.■ 

 

 

 

9. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. 

 

Earlier, they had pursued animals native to woodlands such as deer and rabbit and later, those more at home in open or disturbed environments such as antelope and jackrabbit.

 

Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage. 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some answer choices do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points. Drag your choices to the spaces where they belong. To review the passage, click on View Text. 

 

Archaeologist Time Kohler has attempted to explain why villages and areas in the southwestern part of the United States were abandoned around A.D. 900.

 

 

 

Answer choices 

 

O Kohler attributes the immediate cause of the abandonment to problems with corn production at a high altitude during short growing seasons. 

 

O Kohler maintains that the Anasazi’s transition to living together in villages was a key factor in the process of the degradation of the environment.

 

O The development of intensive agricultural methods depleted the soil and resource management strategies made it difficult to cope with poor growing seasons.

 

O Kohler’s research indicates that in addition to agriculture, the Anasazi lived on the pinon nuts they grew and the animals they hunted in the area. 

 

O Increases in seeds from pioneer plants and systematic changes in the animals hunted and the trees used for construction and fuel are evidence of environmental degradation.

 

O The dependence of the Anasazi on food supplies from nearby villages with better systems of water control and food storage facilities resulted in the Anasazi abandoning the larger villages. 

 

 

 

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