I read the book “1491” also. I looked all through the book for some proof, but did not find any. I found only speculation. One of the speculations was that the new world was more populated than the old.
If so, how come every time they put a shovel in the ground to build something in Europe, they find remains. That is NOT the case in the new world. In fact, the remains of native americans are relatively rare.
The entire chapter speculating on the 94% death rate for diseases was TOTALLY without any kind of proof. There has never been a plague that kills that high a percentage in the past (that has been documented). The reason the book stopped at 94% was because going higher was even more unrealistic.
1491 was a total waste of time.
From The CDC:
Historical Review: Megadrought And Megadeath In 16th Century Mexico (Hemorrhagic Fever)
"The epidemic of cocoliztli from 1545 to 1548 killed an estimated 5 million to 15 million people, or up to 80% of the native population of Mexico (Figure 1). In absolute and relative terms the 1545 epidemic was one of the worst demographic catastrophes in human history, approaching even the Black Death of bubonic plague, which killed approximately 25 million in western Europe from 1347 to 1351 or about 50% of the regional population.
"The cocoliztli epidemic from 1576 to 1578 cocoliztli epidemic killed an additional 2 to 2.5 million people, or about 50% of the remaining native population.