Sustainable Students

John Putzier
Joe Larson
Ben Wittrock
Jonathan Baumann

The Anasazi and Their

Neighbors

Not just a single culture

collapse
All had very similar
histories
Single factor
explanations for their
collapse involve
environmental damage,
drought, warfare, and
cannibalism

Lay of the Land

Geography played a major
role in farming areas and
dwelling placement
Complex dwellings placed
above the floodplain
Canyon floors were broad
and flat permitting flood
plain agriculture

Agricultural Methods
Dryland Agriculture: farmed at higher elevation
where more rain occurred but was colder which
could cause crops not to grow in cold years
Groundwater Agriculture: Planting where the
water table was high enough up for plant roots to
be able to reach
Water Runoff: Collected runoff from ditches and
canals to irrigate fields
Moved from area to area to allow nutrients to
replenish because of high population

Deforestation

Civilization relied heavily on pinyon forests

Slow growth rate of pinyon and juniper forest
because of dry climate
Slow growth rate coupled with increasing
construction and the need for firewood
deforested the land quickly

Dendrochronology
Method of dating historical structures based on the growth rings
present in the lumber
Can accurately predict when the tree was cut down to the year by
overlapping ring patterns from different trees
Also provides a record of weather (wet and dry years)

Packrat Middens
Another method of dating past civilizations
Packrats gather vegetation and trash from their immediate vicinity to
build nests
Because of the dry climate, these nests are preserved and provide an
accurate glimpse of what happened near where the midden was found
After 1000 AD they began to lack pinyon and juniper material

Environmental Changes
Erosion of level floodplains into arroyos due to
the use of irrigation channels
Deforestation leads to reliance on other
sources of fuel, food and building materials
Droughts, while naturally occurring stressed
already fragile balance between growing
societies and overused resources

Overpopulation
As civilizations grew too large they were
forced to build permanent settlements
Growth in population led to increasing
environmental demands
Large population centers could not support
themselves, thereby leading to reliance on
outlying areas for resources

Downfall
Growth in population led to increasing
environmental demands
Environmental changes caused food
shortages
Famine bred cannibalism
Local unrest ensued as living conditions
diminished

Conclusion

The downfall of the Anasazi cannot be attributed to

one single factor, but was caused by a culmination of
human and environmental aspects.
The Anasazi and their neighbors met similar fates,
all were ultimately due to the same fundamental
challenge: people living in fragile and difficult
environments, adopting solutions that were
brilliantly successful and understandable in the
short run, but that failed or else created problems in
the long run. Jared Diamond, 2005