Dental morphology of 4619 prehistoric and living Indians is employed to assess various hypotheses about Southwest population history. Major regional findings include: The Southwest is epigenetically homogeneous; there is no evidence of a pre-Mongoloid population; biology and language are not well correlated; biology and cultural provinces are better correlated; and northern and southern divisions can be recognized A number of other issues concerning population history at the local level are evaluated, including the verification of a northern Arizona migration into central Arizona, a linking of the Mimbres people to Mexico, support for the concept of Mogollon, and no support for a Hohokam-Pima continuum. Several new dental-based hypotheses are developed from this data base that deal with the depopulation of the Southwest in late prehistoric times.
