WHY DID THE ANASAZI LEAVE?
BY TRAVIS
In the 1300's Mesa Verde's population had grown to more than
1,000 people. Every bit of land had crops growing in it. The
Anasazi in Mesa Verde had a lot of droughts. Most of the time
the droughts lasted for a few seasons, except in 1216 a very crazy
drought went on for a long time. Year after year, month after
month, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute, and second
after second, crops began to die. The reason why they died was because
there wasn't enough rain. They could not live without food so one
by one families moved away. They left behind clothes, tools, and
other things as if they were going to return. The drought was over
23 years later. By that time all of the families were gone.
Maybe they were going to come back but, centuries went by and nobody ever
returned.
Scientists tried to figure out why they left Mesa Verde.
Some people thought they were pushed out by warfare and it does show more
problems went on when bad things happen. But there is no proof so
far that a massive conflict went on. Other people think that they
died from a contagious disease. But still there are hardly
any graves. We know that they survived bigger droughts in history.
It must have been a hard life but even at the peak of the drought
in the late 1200's they were constructing new communities elsewhere in
the region. The problems that they had that forced them to leave
had to be serious. Why didn't they come back?… Don't ask me.
