ABSTRACT
In their analysis of Pueblo societies in what is now the US Southwest from AD 600 to 1300, Tim Kohler, Kyle Bocinsky, and Darcy Bird draw on multidisciplinary insights from complexity theory, archaeology, biology, and climate science—among other fields—to uncover statistical and causal relationships between climate effects and collapse. In societies with concentrated dependence on maize as their source of sustenance, the impacts of aridity on crop yields were to some extent mitigated by the societal fabric of the Pueblo communities. Nevertheless, they were also subject to periodic collapses or transformations. While each such event was preceded by a climate-induced constriction, not all constrictions led to transformations or terminations. The conjunction of loss of resilience due to social factors such as increasing wealth inequality and climates unfavorable to maize production tips these societies into new basins of attraction resulting in transformations that are often accompanied by disaggregation, violence, and culture change.
