Demographic and Social Dimensions of the Neolithic Revolution in Southwest Colorado.

Domesticated food production is widely acknowledged as a crucial innovation that led to significant transformations in human demography and social organization. Here, we address demographic and social dimensions of the Neolithic Revolution in the Mesa Verde region of Southwest Colorado. We first propose a new method of dating habitations to one of two phases of the Basketmaker III period (AD 600-725) using relative frequencies of vessel forms in pottery assemblages. Then we adapt this method to new survey and excavation data from Indian Camp Ranch to investigate demographic processes behind the formation of Mesa Verde Pueblo society. Finally, we investigate the distribution of agricultural storage space across Basketmaker III households to investigate the development of private property during this period. Our results indicate that both in-migration and intrinsic growth were involved in the formation of Mesa Verde pueblo society; that agricultural households initially clustered around public architecture but became increasingly dispersed over time; and that household agricultural outputs took the form of a log-normal distribution typical of societies with private property rights. Collectively, these findings provide evidence that private property rights co-evolved with the commitment to agriculture and settled communities in Southwest Colorado, as researchers have suggested for other world areas.