"This book--sixth in the Arroyo Hondo Archaeological Series--examines the uses of wild and domesticated plants at Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, a large, fourteenth-century ruin near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ethnobotanist Wilma Wetterstrom describes the food plant remains found at the site and estimates the potential harvest of each food resource. Then, in two closely argued chapters, she demonstrates how years of drought would have caused food shortages for Arroyo Hondo's substantial population, resulting in migration as well as malnutrition and higher death rates among young children. In two additional reports, Vorsila L. Bohrer offers information from the analysis of pollen samples, and Richard W. Lang describes artifacts such as mats and baskets made from vegetal materials"--Back cover.

This fifth volume presents the results of faunal analysis from the Arroyo Hondo excavations, covering the topics of prehistoric vegetation and climate; the importance of various animals in the diet; seasonal hunting patterns; methods of butchering, skinning and cooking; the prehistoric hunting territory; the raising of domesticated dogs and turkeys; and trade in animals and animal products.

Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, one of the largest fourteenth century sites in the northern Rio Grande region, was excavated by the School of American Research under the leadership of Douglas W. Schwartz between 1970 and 1974. In this eighth volume of the Arroyo Hondo Archaeological Series, Judith A. Habicht-Mauche presents a masterful description and interpretation of the pottery from Arroyo Hondo. Habicht-Mauche builds on an exhaustive study of the mineralogical and chemical attributes of the ceramic assemblage to produce a penetrating evaluation of the stylistic diversity, origins, and changes through time of the pottery types found at Arroyo Hondo. From this analytic foundation, she draws larger conclusions on the structure of the pueblo's social and economic alliances and their significance for understanding population expansion, resource competition, regional trade, craft specialization, ethnic diversity, and the rise of tribal networks throughout the northern Rio Grande region. In additional reports, Richard W. Lang provides an analysis and seriation of stratigraphic ceramic samples from the pueblo, and Anthony Thibodeau describes the miscellaneous ceramic artifacts including pipes, effigies, balls, and beads. This volume also contains a final report on the stone artifacts from Arroyo Hondo, in which Carl J. Phagan accomplishes a comprehensive reconstruction and interpretation of the lithic data collected at the site in 1971-72 and 1973-74.

This landmark study uses archaeological tree-ring chronologies in the first attempt to quantitatively reconstruct past climate variability. After a step-by-step explanation of the statistical methods the authors reconstruct in inches the annual and spring precipitation of the Arroyo Hondo area for each year from AD 985 to 1970. This is the fourth volume in the series.

From 1971 to 1974, the School of American Research conducted a major multidisciplinary program of excavation and research at Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, one of the largest fourteenth-century Rio Grande sites. At its peak, Arroyo Hondo contained about one thousand rooms. This seventh volume in the series is focused on the walls, roomblocks, and architecture of public spaces at the site.