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• ~~ If we hope to adiieve a clear, if not better, inderstanding of a local cultural system, then, it is necessary that we understand the environ- mental milieu to which this cultural system was, or had, adapted. Our understanding is enhanced, I believe, if we approach the cultun-e- environment relationship faun an interactive rather than a deterministic perspective. This is to say that the natural environment places restrio- tions upon, but does not determine absolutely, the range or level of hum~aru adaptations. Cultural modifications can ameliorate less than hospitable environmental conditions, yet, at the same tire, there are certain basic requirements that must be fulfilled. • Htu[taz1 populations dependent upon hunting and gathering are closely linked to their environment, such that variations in the latter can have profound effects upon the adaptive responses of those groups. Yet, as studies aumnc, groups of historic hunter-gatherers have shoran, the adaptation of such peoples is flexible enough that they can secure an adequate livelihood under most envirozmiental condi- tions. fUobility is usually a key factor, also, in the sense that it is relatively easy for hunting and gathering populations to move out of an area where the basic ~,irements are be~uing harder to attain to another area where environmental conditions are more hospitable. Food producing groups, such as the horticultural Anasazi of the South- western United States (including Colorado), have attained a subsistence capability that can provide reliable and adequate food returns under noanal conditions. This latter qualification is important because the emphasis upon a single food source (or reduced nuanber of food resources) • reduces the flexibility of these populations to respond successfully to variations in environmental conditions. The capability of a cultural 5