By
1400 AD, almost all the Anasazi from throughout the Southwest
had joined up into large pueblos scattered along the river systems
of the Little Colorado and Rio Grande rivers in Arizona and
New Mexico. Their descendants are still there in the few surviving
pueblos. Why did they leave? It is impossible to find a single
cause that can explain it, but there appear to be several that
contributed. First, the climate in this period was somewhat
unstable with erratic rainfall and periods of drought. This
weather problem climaxed with a 38-year drought starting about
1270 that coincided with a world-wide cooling trend which significantly
shortened the growing season. Perhaps also, the expanding population
had pressed the limits of the land's capacity to support the
people so that they were unable to survive the climatic upheavals
of the 13th century.
Around 1100 AD, the city of Cahokia, 5 sq. km in area and home
to 20,000- 40,000 people, was the largest settlement north of
Mexico. It was located 12 kilometres east of the modern city
of St. Louis in the United States, near where the Missouri and
Mississippi rivers join up. Ruins today consist of 120 earth
mounds where civic buildings and the homes of the nobles were
located. The city centre, called the sacred precinct, was protected
by a log stockade three to four metres high. Here the rulers
of Cahokia lived and were buried. At the very centre was a huge
earth mound, topped by a pole-framed temple more than 30 metres
long. Merchants from Cahokia used the Mississippi and Missouri
river systems to trade with people from the Gulf of Mexico to
the Great Lakes to the Atlantic coast. After 1200 AD, the city
went into decline for as yet unknown reasons, and by 1400 was
virtually empty. Perhaps the people of Cahokia suffered from
the same climatic changes as the Anasazi farther to the west.
Another example of sophisticated hunting technique of the hunter-gatherer
nations of the Great Plains of North America is shown by Head-Smashed-In
Buffalo Jump, in Alberta, Canada. This is one of the oldest
and best preserved buffalo jumps, in use from about 4000 BC
up to 1800 AD. Bison are not stupid, and just like most people,
they don't jump off cliffs for no reason. At Head- Smashed-In,
there is a kind of optical illusion. Although 10 metres high,
the grassy cliff edge blends into fields beyond, and from a
distance, there does not appear to be a drop at all.
When the herd of bison was located, your band would pack up
camp, moving to the temporary camp closer to the buffalo. The
people walked there on foot, using dogs to help them on their
way. Upon arriving you set up camp, putting up tipis and racks
to dry meat. Imitating a lost calf, a buffalo runner would try
and trick the herd into following the pitiful bleating. As the
buffalo neared the cliff, all the other hunters would sneak
up behind the herd and scare the animals. Suddenly the older
cows who usually lead the herd, as they get close enough, see
the cliff edge, but with several hundred stampeding bison behind
there is no chance to stop and turn, and soon dozens of animals
are tumbling over the cliff. Later after the meat was prepared
and everything was ready, there were great feasts. Food was
not a worry again, at least for a little while.
25
years ago / 50 years ago
/ 80 years ago / 125
years ago / 150 years ago
250 years ago / 400
years ago / 700 years ago
/ 1,200 years ago
1,500 years ago / 2,000
years ago / 3,000 years
ago / 4,000 years ago
/ 5,000 years ago / 10,000
years ago
