Environmental and cultural history of the Southwest emphasizing discovery of the past using historical science techniques of tree-ring and packrat midden analyses and repeat photography.
This course will cover several paleoenvironmental tools that have been involved extensively in reconstructing the natural and cultural history of the Southwest (as well as for other regions, too). They include:
Whereas the overall scope of this course encompasses broad time scales, its focus increases in detail as it moves from the distant to the recent past.
Spatially, the greater Southwest includes most of Arizona and New Mexico as well as southeastern Utah, southwestern Colorado, and northern Mexico.