Demography and Dendrochronology: A Critical Examination of a Proposed Population Index

Abstract

A proposed index to population growth patterns is examined and found to be an unsatisfactory method for distinguishing between exponential and logistic growth trends thought to describe population growth in the American Southwest. The patterns formed by the beam cutting index at the sites studied by Eighmy are inferred to be a product of post-occupational site disturbance and sampling difficulties. An alternative approach derived from the properties of exponential and logistic population growth is outlined as a direction for further research.