Comments on: The Anasazi Mystery

By: Hannah

Hannah — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:10:00 +0000

I’ve been to one of the anasazi sites, and it was really cool to see how intact and well made most of the structures were.

By: eric

eric — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:31:00 +0000

Why the people never returned?
They never really had much of a chance. Just as their society was reforming in pueblos along the Rio Grande and on the Hopi Mesas, they were conquered by the Spanish. Both civil and ecclesiastical authorities did everything they could to repress the original culture–destroying kivas and other cultural artifacts, killing priests and shaman, and selling survivors into slavery.

By: Southern Buddhist

Southern Buddhist — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:53:00 +0000

Another interesting book is _The Zuni Enigma_, which argues that the group of people who are genetically the most closely related to Native American Zunis are actually the Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan, and it theorizes some kind of extremely early Asian settlement of the West Coast. Sorry, can’t remember the author.

By: Southern Buddhist

Southern Buddhist — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:51:00 +0000

This is totally silly, and I’m certainly not suggesting it as a theory of any sort, but my husband discovered a Louis L’Amour book called _Haunted Mesa_. It’s about a guy whose friend disappears inside a kiva, through the ceremonial hole. The Anasazi believed that this world was the fourth one they had lived in, having climbed _up_ a kiva hole to leave a world and emerging to climb _out_ of a hole into the next world. This guy had apparently wound up in the Fifth World, the one to which the Anasazi vanished after leaving this one, and his pal had to rescue him. It might be the only good Louis L’Amour book (or not — I never read any others), but it’s a combination of Western history, sci-fi, and mystery. If you ever want to kill two hours with the Anasazi, it’s pretty fun.

By: Jake

Jake — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:46:00 +0000

It was unusual for them to be there in the first place. I think it was a charismatic leader who brought them there and created that style of living. When the leader died, that style of living died.

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:57:00 +0000

I visited two of these sites during my time in Arizona, and both times I concluded that it was just not feasible for the people to avoid fatal attacks from raiders. They practically cornered themselves against the wall, with the only advantage being able to clearly see their approaching doom-bringers. I’d relocate, too.

On a whimsically unrelated note, it looks like you guys are approaching your 20,000th post! Cool!