Environment and Subsistence of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

This paper is conceived as a summary and review of recent paleoenvironmental research in Chaco. While the orientation is toward reviewing information of potential significance in modelling past human adaptations, discussion of archeological evidence of past adapt ions is minimal. The focus is on characterizing the general climatic and environmental framework, which confronted human populations at different times in the past, and on suggesting revisions of previous interpretations where warranted. This is not a comprehensive review of the paleoenvironmental data that have been generated in recent years from Chaco or elsewhere on the Colorado Plateau.