The Mystery Of The Anasazi Has Been Solved(They Think).

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

This is one of the last posts in my series about the cliff dwellers in the 4 Corners region of Southwestern United States.

If you haven't been reading this series, the great mystery is why the villages and cliff dwellings were abandoned around 1285 A.D.

One of the incredible cliff dwellings, almost perfectly preserved:

source

In my last post on the Anasazi, now known as the Ancestral Puebloans, we learned that a severe drought wasn't the only catastrophe they suffered through.

Within the last ten years archaeologists and anthropologists have been doing extensive excavating.

No one expected this

What they found was shocking to them. Hundreds of skeletal remains with their skulls bashed in. Up until this time they had no reason to believe that the puebloans were violent.

Now they could see a reason for them to abandon their ancestral homes, they were attacked ...but by who?

Another hard to reach home:

source

Well, there was no evidence found which indicated another race or culture was there. An enemy big enough to force the evacuation of 30,000 people would leave significant evidence behind.

Instead...nothing. Which leaves only one possibility. They had to have been fighting each other. For some reason the settlements turned on themselves.

Something evil this way comes

It was only in the last generation that they moved into walled villages and built cliff dwellings. It was a move of desperation in fear of a great threat. But now we know that the threat was each other.

And those defensive measures didn't stop the fighting.

In the Castle Rock settlement when they had only dug up 5% of the area they found 41 bodies that died a violent death...the site of a major massacre.

And that was one of the most secure dwellings:

source

Researchers know that the fighting got really bad and they assume that the drought and resulting food shortages were a major reason, maybe they were raiding each other for food or maybe it was some other type of disagreements.

The writers at the Smithsonian Institute believe that the tribal elders of the Hopi and Zuni know the answers as their history has always been passed down from generation to generation in their oral traditions. But they aren't talking.

We'll find out more in the next post.

Thanks for reading folks!

-jonboy
Texas
the gentleman redneck

PS- Everyday I've been posting a photo which supposedly represents each state, this is from a ridiculous article I found on www.livingmgz.com. lol.

Today's state is the great state of Georgia! I know a Steemian in Georgia, the great sir @jerrytsuseer. He's a prolific poster and has a heart as big as his state, get aquainted if you haven't yet.

This is a great photo. No way it represents the state but none the less, I know they have a great many rednecks over there and that's what's important to me! lol.

Peaches are the state fruit and man oh man! If you haven't had Georgia peaches then you haven't quite lived yet! Oh, the state motto of Georgia is: “Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation”

Yeah, I don't know if they follow any of those in redneck country where this picture was taken! No mention of education in their motto. lol.

God bless you all!