Achievement

Tim Kohler (IPEM SPI) has been granted an NSF CNH award beginning 1/1/09 to continue research on coupled human and natural systems in the prehispanic eastern Southwest. Incoming IPEM trainee Kyle Bocinsky will work on this project and will be in the field with Kohler and others this summer at Mesa Verde National Park. One key result of this research stream to date is a new view of the depopulation of the northern Southwest in the 13th century AD that reinforces the role of low-frequency climatic change, and high population levels due to immigration that impact critical resources, as sparking violence, with all of these factors playing a role in the depopulation (see the Kohler et al. American Scientist article, 2008, for a brief overview).