It’s always been thought drought cycles had a lot to do with the abandonment of sites like Chaco. If you’ve been to a few of those sites or a live site like the Hopi you realize how close to the edge Puebloan agriculture lived in the arid climate.
Yeah, Colorado Tanker, Chaco is a fascinating place. The climate would have needed to have been somewhat wetter than it is now to even imagine supporting such a developed culture.
It appears that water management was much on their minds then, too. It is not certain that all their construction that appears to us now to be designed for water control actual was for irrigation, I am sure that much of it was.
I’ve been several times to Chaco. Its current mysteries are matched by its beauty.
Thanks Sunken for putting this up.
Oldplayer