Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Environmental Dimensions Of Colonial Settlement: A Palynological Investigation Of La Cienega, New Mexico, Kyle W. Edwards

Graduate Masters Theses

Using palynological data, this project explores how changing land use practices associated with successive waves of colonial settlement shaped local environments in La Cienega, New Mexico. This is accomplished by linking collected pollen data to known historic occupations beginning with pre-colonial Puebloan populations and continuing through the present day, encompassing both Hispanic and Anglo-American colonial occupations. The data were collected from a single sediment core taken at a small pond located within La Cienega. Pollen from 12 samples was analyzed, providing a 600-year record of changes within local plant communities. The collected data are interpreted in relation to known archaeological …