Complex Adaptive Systems and the Depopulation of Mesa Verde

Explore the complex factors behind the mysterious depopulation of Mesa Verde in this 48-minute lecture from the Santa Fe Institute. Delve into how complex adaptive systems approaches, including food web analysis and agent-based modeling, offer new insights into the 700-year occupation and ultimate abandonment of the Four Corners region by Ancestral Pueblo people. Examine the cascading effects of resource overuse, high human density, and a maize-centric food system in an environment susceptible to prolonged droughts. Gain a deeper understanding of how small individual choices led to large-scale structural changes, and how ecosystem vulnerability and changing precipitation patterns contributed to the perfect storm that necessitated migration or innovation for survival.

Intro
A COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS APPROACH
Challenges in Archaeology
How small choices and individual interactions lead to large, overarching structures
THE VILLAGE ECODYNAMICS PROJECT
Methods: Agent-based modeling and Network Analysis
Why model?
This research...
The simulation...
The simulation continued...
The other data
Discussion Model 1
The question(s)
WHAT IS A FOOD WEB?
The research
COMPOSITE FOOD WEB
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: THE EFFECTS OF HUNTING
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: THE EFFECTS OF FARMING
PREY SWITCHING AND CONNECTIVITY
ECOSYSTEM VULNERABILITY
CHANGING PRECIPITATION PATTERNS
A VULNERABLE POPULATION
CONCLUSIONS
A THANK YOU TO MY COLLABORATORS