THROUGH TIME AMONG PREHISPANIC FARMERS OF THE PUEBLO SOUTHWEST

Claims that intergroup conflict has been akey structuring process in human socialevolution, with roots in our primate an-cestry and our long existence in small foraging bands (e.g., Bowles 2009; Wrangham 2004; but see Fry and Söderberg 2013), ultimately depend on archaeological evidence. Quantifying the in-tensity of conflict in prehistory is also critical for evaluating hopeful claims, such as Pinker’s (2011), that we currently enjoy much more peace-ful conditions than were typical in the past. Here we contribute to these discussions by analyzing the prevalence of violence in two of the most populous regions of the prehispanic North Amer-ican Southwest. The first region is the central Mesa Verde (CMV), centered in southwestern Colorado. This was first settled by ancestral Pueblo farmers ca. A.D. 600, and by the early 1200s1 it was one of two main population centers in the Greater South-west. Over the course of the 1200s this population dwindled, with many of its people moving to ou