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Why did building at Chaco stop and its people leave?

Asked 26 Oct 2026 by ·4 answers·0·0 following
Most likely: a severe drought from about 1130 made the canyon and its supply areas unable to support the systemAhead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

Where it stands

Four answers have been proposed. A severe drought from about 1130 made the canyon and its supply areas unable to support the system. leads, with evidence 2 for: supported by its tests. Three are still possible.

Why it matters

Chaco's end is one of the best-dated departures in prehistory, and its causes bear on how societies respond to drought and environmental damage. Descendant communities describe a migration rather than an end⁠[1]⁠[2]⁠[3].

Answers 4

Evidence: 2 for
Most likely
Evidence: 1 for
Most likely
Evidence: 2 for
Most likely
None of these.
Not tested enough to call either way
Evidence: none yet
Still possible

History

  1. Windes & Ford: pueblo Bonito's construction episodes fall in wet decades, linking building to food surplus.For: A severe drought from about 1130 made the canyon and its supply areas unable to support the system.
  2. Benson et al. puts forward: a severe drought from about 1130 made the canyon and its supply areas unable to support the system.
  3. Lentz et al. puts forward: centuries of woodcutting and erosion had degraded the canyon, so it could no longer absorb drought.
  4. Lentz et al.: the juniper woodland was largely gone by the Bonito phase.For: Centuries of woodcutting and erosion had degraded the canyon, so it could no longer absorb drought.
  5. Pinotti et al.: picuris genomes, ancient and living, show continuity with the Pueblo Bonito burials and no population decline…For: People chose to move as part of a long Puebloan pattern of migration, carrying their institutions to new…
  6. Asked on this site
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