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The Beginning of the End: Abandonment Micro-histories in the Mississippian Vacant Quarter.
- Source :
-
Journal of Archaeological Method & Theory . Jun2024, Vol. 31 Issue 2, p619-643. 25p. - Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- In a poorly understood yet recurring phenomenon, communities occupying diverse settings within a region may undertake large-scale migrations that cannot be easily attributed to single variables such as climate change. As a result, the study of these movements has increasingly focused on the distinct histories of localities to address how they may have articulated as large-scale abandonments. We adopt this micro-history perspective on the fourteenth to fifteenth century depopulation of a large portion of the North American Midwest and Southeast, popularly referred to as the Vacant Quarter. Our research on the Middle Cumberland drainage within the Vacant Quarter suggests that a significant exodus began slowly ca. 1300 CE; then, it accelerated extremely rapidly in the first half of the fifteenth century CE. This genesis of this trajectory seems to be related to a pattern of severe droughts, but it was brought to a close by social and demographic challenges such as endemic conflict and adverse health conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 10725369
- Volume :
- 31
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Archaeological Method & Theory
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 177190866
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-023-09613-w