SW USA 2000 Year Growing Degree Days and Precipitation Reconstructions Bocinsky, R.K.; Rush, J.; Kintigh, K.W.; Kohler, T.A. Bocinsky, R.K. Rush, J. Kintigh, K.W. Kohler, T.A. Precipitation Reconstruction earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|tree ring (age,null,null,year Common Era,null,climate reconstructions|tree ring,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|tree ring (precipitation,null,null,millimeter,Oct-Sep,climate reconstructions|tree ring,null,regression analysis,N,PaleoCAR method) earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|tree ring (growing degree days,null,null,kelvin day,May-Sep,climate reconstructions|tree ring,null,regression analysis,N,PaleoCAR method; units are degrees Fahrenheit * day) earth science/paleoclimate/reconstructions (Southwestern USA>LATITUDE >LONGITUDE ) Cycles of demographic and organizational change are well documented in Neolithic societies, but the social and ecological processes underlying them are debated. Such periodicities are implicit in the “Pecos classification,” a chronology for the pre-Hispanic U.S. Southwest introduced in Science in 1927 which is still widely used. To understand these periodicities, we analyzed 29,311 archaeological tree-ring dates from A.D. 500 to 1400 in the context of a novel high spatial resolution, annual reconstruction of the maize dry-farming niche for this same period. We argue that each of the Pecos periods initially incorporates an “exploration” phase, followed by a phase of “exploitation” of niches that are simultaneously ecological, cultural, and organizational. Exploitation phases characterized by demographic expansion and aggregation ended with climatically driven downturns in agricultural favorability, undermining important bases for social consensus. Exploration phases were times of socio-ecological niche discovery and development. STUDY NOTES: High spatial resolution (30 arc-second) Southwestern United States tree-ring reconstructions of May-September Growing-degree Days (GDD) and Net Water-year Precipitation (previous October - current November). The reconstructions were performed using the "PaleoCAR" method detailed in Bocinsky and Kohler (2014). NCDC-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data - Bauer Bruce Investigator : Bocinsky, R.K. Investigator : Rush, J. Investigator : Kintigh, K.W. Investigator : Kohler, T.A. 2016-04-01 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/19783 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/reconstructions/northamerica/usa/bocinsky2016/ https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/reconstructions/northamerica/usa/bocinsky2016/readme-bocinsky2016.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/reconstructions/northamerica/usa/bocinsky2016/ https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/reconstructions/northamerica/usa/bocinsky2016/readme-bocinsky2016.txt English https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/19783 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/reconstructions/northamerica/usa/bocinsky2016/ https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/reconstructions/northamerica/usa/bocinsky2016/readme-bocinsky2016.txt R. Kyle Bocinsky, Johnathan Rush, Keith W. Kintigh and Timothy A. Kohler 2016Exploration and exploitation in the macrohistory of the pre-Hispanic Pueblo SouthwestScience Advancese15015322410.1126/sciadv.1501532http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/4/e1501532 R. Kyle Bocinsky and Timothy A. Kohler2014A 2,000-year reconstruction of the rain-fed maize agricultural niche in the US SouthwestNature Communications5561810.1038/ncomms6618http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/141204/ncomms6618/full/ncomms6618.html START YEAR: 0 AD * END YEAR: 2000 AD -115 31 -102 43