[MillerCreek]

It was, from what I've read, due to drought and wars that ensued when competition began to heat up due to deprived resources -- to state the obvious.

The devastating drought in the South and Southwest of North America was the cause of, worse yet, even cannibalism in the Southwest and loss of forests/plant life across much of the Southwest.

It was probably a drought of such proportions that we can only imagine nowadays, extensive and global even, because the Mediterranean shows evidence of similar human populations struggles from about the same time.

[blam]

"The devastating drought in the South and Southwest of North America was the cause of, worse yet, even cannibalism in the Southwest and loss of forests/plant life across much of the Southwest. "

The Anasazi And Cannibalism, good work by Christy Turner.

[redgolum]

While I was on the road a few years ago, I had the chance to go to the Black Water Draw in Clovis,NM, the place were the earliest signs of humans was found.

The museum there went into detail about that drought, and so do many of the local Spanish histories.

Picture a corn growing place like Iowa going to desert in a few decades, and you kind of get an idea of what happened. The area went from agriculture and cities to isolated outposts surrounded by waste land very quickly.