Prehistoric Indians of the SouthwestWormington, H. M. (Hannah Marie)
History
Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest
Wormington, H. M. (Hannah Marie)
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- Antiquities; Southwest, New -- Antiquities
Greater numbers, or superior organization, might have given them an
advantage, but we can hardly believe that the nomads were as numerous or
had as good an organization as that of the people of the Pueblos. The
region in which they presumably lived would certainly not support a
large population, and particularly one with an essentially parasitic
economy which did not produce. With such an economy, people cannot live
too close together without exhausting the available resources, and a
thinly spread population is unlikely to be highly organized.
Great physical superiority may be another factor in the winning of
battles between people who have not yet become so civilized as to have
machines which will enable one individual to kill thousands of his
fellow men. Any physical superiority, however, would seem to rest with
the sedentary people who had an assured food supply. Moreover, their
life was still sufficiently rugged so that there can hardly be any
question of their having been greatly weakened by soft living.
Doubtless, there were sporadic raids by nomads, and these may have had a
cumulative effect in upsetting Pueblo economy. The role played by
periods of arroyo-cutting and by droughts can certainly not be
overlooked. These may well have done more than reduce the food supply.
When food is scarce, raids are more likely to occur, and it is entirely
probable that the relationship between various groups deteriorated as
prosperity decreased. Toward the end of Great-Pueblo times we find
increasing signs of warfare in the form of burned buildings and unburied
bodies, many of which show evidence of violence. The latter are of the
characteristic Pueblo type, however, and would seem to indicate warfare
between people of the same blood.
[Illustration: Fig. 28—Types of Great-Pueblo masonry. a. Chaco, b.
Mesa Verde, c. Kayenta.]
The most logical theory seems to be that many factors contributed to the
great change which occurred in the Anasazi province. Doubtless, climatic
conditions were the great underlying cause, but there may have been
others. We cannot afford to confine our attention entirely to material
causes, but must take into consideration even the possibility that
fears, engendered by religious beliefs, may have played a part. All
this, however, is largely in the realm of conjecture, for, with no
written records, there can be no first hand information.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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