Suffice it to say people are familiar with baby boomers in the human population following the end of World War 2. However a second and much more ancient “baby boom” had occurred centuries prior to the 20th century’s equivalent and its influence as anthropologists from Washington State University have studied, leaves a very sobering lesson of what the aftermath is of overpopulation and exponential human growth becoming unchecked and leading to a progress trap and consequently collapse. The “boom” in population growth in question was a massive growth blip in the south western native American tribes from 500-1300 A.D. The occurrence of which had transpired during a period of growth in the recognizable aspects of civilization i.e. agriculture and food storage. Researchers studied the thousands of skeletal remains and century old data from various sites across the Four Corners region of the South Western United states. The primary focus of the study was the Neolithic transition of the tribe’s cultures and usage of more advanced tools and their correlation to their population growths becoming exponential, eventually leading to a progress trap. Even with declines in food production and warfare, the growth rate did not decrease, the conflict of growth verses the environment's limited resources and the creation of an inflated carrying capacity for their existence, as the researchers suggest, caused these ancient societies to collapse in the process from within, and from conflicts from other dying tribes of the Four Corners regions. As taken from the article to give some chronological sense to the events that transpired. Around 900 A.D., populations remained high but birth rates began to fluctuate. The mid-1100s saw one of the largest known droughts in the Southwest. The region likely hit its carrying capacity, with continued population growth and limited resources similar to what Thomas Malthus predicted for the industrial world in 1798. From the mid-1000s to 1280 -- by which time all the farmers had left -- conflicts raged across the northern Southwest but birth rates remained high. "They didn't slow down -- birth rates were expanding right up to the depopulation," said Kohler. "Why not limit growth? Maybe groups needed to be big to protect their villages and fields." "It was a trap," said Kohler. "A Malthusian trap but also a violence trap." The northern Southwest had as many as 40,000 people in the mid-1200s, but within 30 years it was empty, leaving a mystery that has consumed several archaeological careers, including Kohler's. Perhaps the population got too large to feed itself as climates deteriorated, but as people began to leave, it would have been hard to maintain the social unity needed for defense and new infrastructure, said Kohler. Whatever the reason, he said, the ancient Puebloans point up that, "population growth has its consequences." For those unfamiliar with the phrase "Progress trap". A progress trap is the condition human societies experience when, in pursuing progress through human ingenuity, they inadvertently introduce problems they do not have the resources or political will to solve, for fear of short-term losses in status, stability or quality of life. This prevents further progress and sometimes leads to collapse. [HR][/HR] References Washington State University. (2014, June 30). Ancient baby boom holds a lesson in over-population. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 2, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140630164146.htm
