What happened to the Anasazi?
This is an
enduring question, and I become less certain the more I look into it.
The term “Anasazi” is derived
from a Diné (Navajo) term that means “ancestor of my
enemy.” Since this is an exonym (a term applied by an outside
group) that is often considered derogatory by their modern
descendants – the Pueblo Indians – it is now more common to refer
the Anasazi as “Ancestral Pueblo People” or “Ancestral
Puebloans.” Of course, the term “Pueblo” originated with the
Spanish, so I think it is best to use the Hopi term “Hisatsinom”
– which means “ancient people” – although other Pueblos have
their own terms.
The Hisatsinom lived in communities in
the Four Corners region from around 1200 BCE to 1250 CE. Their
architecture varied quite a bit, but the most distinctive
characteristic of their towns and cities is the kiva, which likely
served a ceremonial role similar to that served by the kiva among
modern Pueblos. Various settlements had housing that included pit
houses, elaborate pueblos, and cliff dwellings. They often used
stone for their houses rather than the adobe that was common later,
and many of their structures are well preserved.
What happened to the Hisatsinom is
relatively easy to determine: they left their communities and settled
in the nearby pueblos, which were already populated by related
peoples. This explanation is satisfactory because it is consistent
with traditional stories of the Puebloans and with the archaeological
record.
The place where it gets sticky is when
you try to find out why they did this. For decades, the story has
been that Hisatsinom settlements were founded during a period in
history with above-average rainfall. Since they relied on dry-land
farming (farming without elaborate irrigation systems), their lives
became increasingly difficult as the wet period came to an end in an
event called the “Great Drought.” As they found it harder and
harder to produce adequate food, the Hisatsinom slowly left their
settlements and moved to the pueblos, which were close to major
rivers and reliable seasonal streams.
There are a couple of problems with the
Great Drought theory. At first, tree-ring data seemed to indicate an
enormous drought that came without precedent. Further research
indicates that the Hisatsinom had survived many droughts before, and
it is not clear that they were experiencing widespread famine at this
time. Also, the Hisatsinom had actually started to leave before the
Great Drought, which indicates that something else might have been
happening.
The departure from the Hisatsinom
settlements was also accompanied by other changes. Stone habitations
were closed up or dismantled. Pueblo tradition holds that their
ancestors had found ways to manipulate the weather, and that this
brought unexpected and disastrous consequences. They tried to
reverse these changes by destroying their sacred buildings.
Some recent research finds evidence of
warfare and cannibalism that began a few decades before the towns and
cities were abandoned completely. Some people speculate that this
was caused by the scarcity of food, but there are other
possibilities. Christy and Jacqueline Turner propose the possibility
that Meso-American invaders may have taken over the Hisatsinom
territories. They required offerings of food that would be stored in
Great Houses (large, centrally located structures that seem to have
had ritual and storage uses). The Turners proposed that the ritually
prepared human bones that were found at several sites could be
victims that were offered as tribute to the invaders, who had
established themselves as the rulers. In this view, the Hisatsinom
left because they were escaping.
The Turners' theory has not been
universally accepted by scientists, and most Pueblo leaders have
rejected it. Anthropologists claim that there are other reasons to
ritually prepare bones. Most Pueblo elders say that the Hisatsinom
were peaceful, and they had no tradition of cannibalism. That being
said, I have a vague memory of a man who came from San Ildefonso
Pueblo to tell us stories at campfire program at Bandelier National
Monument. He said that the horrors that took place when the
Hisatsinom were practicing black magic before they dispersed were
“unspeakable.” If I remember what he said correctly, it seems
possible that there is some oral tradition that is consistent with
cannibalism and warfare.
Among the descendants of the Hisatsinom
there are many stories about the reason they migrated to the pueblos,
but the best known is that told by the Hopi. They say that the
Hisatsinom left because they had a spiritual dedication to a life of
movement. They started to experience bad luck caused by staying in
places that were meant to temporary, so they left to respect the
practices of their ancestors.
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