DIETARY INFERENCES FROM HOY HOUSE COPROLITES: A PALYNOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

The pollen analysis of 59 coprolites from Hoy House and Lion House in Johnson Canyon, Colorado, has yielded information concerning the diet of the Anasazi living at these sites during PIII times. Based on combined pollen and macro-floral analyses, the diet appears to be composed primarily of the cultigens Zea, Cucurbita, and Phaseolus, with heavy reliance on the possibly encouraged Cleome, and other manipulated or wild plants including the Cheno-ams, Oryzopsis, Physalis , and the Umbelliferae . In addition to identifying probable elements of the Anasazi diet, this study has attempted to test two hypotheses concerning the abandonment of the Mesa Verde . These include Nickens' (1977 ) hypothesis relating to environmental stress resulting in sporadic cultivation problems and higher incidences of the use of Cleome and non- cultivated plants in the diet, and Stiger's (1977) hypothesis that the Anasazi had exhausted their lands suitable for cultivation due mainly to intensive agricultural practices during the PIll.