Environmental History and Local Land Use Practices in the Spanish Southwest: Palynology at a 17th-Century New Mexican Ranch

During the 17^th-century colonization of New Mexico, Spaniards introduced new flora and fauna. These introductions together with many colonial activities shaped the landscape; nevertheless, this marginal environment was a potent force in structuring colonizers’ practices, particularly the production of subsistence goods such as wheat, maize, and livestock. The scale and nature of colonists’ agricultural beginnings are not well understood.  Here we use pollen recovered from a 17^th-century Spanish New Mexican ranch to identify vegetation changes associated with land use activities and ultimately to understand the complex cultural and environmental relationships between the Spanish colonists and their landscape.