Prehispanic Environmental Impact in the Mimbres Region, Southwestern New Mexico

Prehispanic settlements often had archaeologically visible impacts on their surrounding environments, including changes in local plant communities that
affected the presence and abundance of both plant and animal species. Here, data from sites in the Mimbres region of southwestern New Mexico are used to identify evidence for such impacts around habitation sites, and to investigate four factors (site size, elevation, water availability, and occupational history) that
influence the degree of impact different settlement types had on their surroundings. Patterning in riparian tree species ubiquity, weed ubiquity, and lagomorph ratios indicates that environmental impact is linked not only to settlement size, but also to the history of human occupation in an area. These combined factors outweigh differences in settlement elevation and water availability in the study area.

前哥伦布时期的定居点往往会对周边环境产生考古学上可观测的影响，其中包括改变当地植物群落，进而影响动植物物种的存在与丰度。本研究利用新墨西哥州西南部明布雷斯地区遗址的数据，旨在识别居住遗址周边此类环境影响的考古证据，并探究影响不同定居类型对周边环境影响程度的四类因素：遗址规模、海拔、水资源可获得性以及 occupation历史 (occupational history)。河岸树种分布频度、杂草分布频度与兔形目动物比例的分布模式表明，环境影响不仅与定居点规模相关，还与区域内的人类 occupation历史密切相关。在本研究区域内，上述综合因素对环境影响程度的解释力，显著高于定居点海拔与水资源可获得性的差异。