[TheThirdRuffian]

I have the same concern.

Here I New Mexico, there are several well preserved towns dating from the pre-Columbian period or thereabouts (1400 to 1550 AD).

All the Indians just died for unknown reasons. Unburied bodies found in hidey holes.

Best guess from locals is some sort of hantavirus.

Apparently this killed 95% of the North American population before Europeans even showed up.

We get occasional outbreaks out this way. The CDC comes and burns down the house.

[Darksheare]

” The CDC comes and burns down the house.”

Prevents zombies.
/ kidding.

[Mmogamer]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweating_sickness

whatever it was, it killed within hours.

[sphinx]

Apparently this killed 95% of the North American population before Europeans even showed up.

Can you elaborate? I thought the great die-off was the product of the disease wave unleashed after European contact. Disease travelled much faster than exploration and settlement, so Indians across North America were dying en masse long before whites showed up in their vicinity. Absent the germ theory of disease, no one at the time connected the dots but the European origin of the epidemic is clear to us today.

But I've never heard of a 95% die-out prior to first contact.

[Steve Van Doorn]

I thought they determined the Indians died from small pox. Small pox was also killing most of the people in Europe at that time.