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Mov ing into Pueblos

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Moving into Pueblos

In the Mesa Verde area of the ancient North American Southwest, living patterns

changed

in

the

thirteenth

century,

with

large

numbers

of

people

moving

into

large

communal

dwellings

called

pueblos,

often

constructed

at

the

edges

of

canyons,

especially

on

the

sides

of

cliffs.

Abandoning

small

extended-family

households

to

move

into

these

large

pueblos

with

dozens

if

not

hundreds

of

other

people

was

probably traumatic. Few of the cultural traditions and rules that today allow us to deal

with dense populations existed for these people accustomed to household autonomy

and

the

ability

to

move

around

the

landscape

almost

at

will.

And

besides

the

awkwardness

of having

to

share walls

with

neighbors, living in

aggregated pueblos

introduced

other

problems.

For

people

in

cliff

dwellings,

hauling

water,

wood,

and

food to their homes was a major chore. The stress on local resources, especially in the

firewood

needed

for

daily

cooking

and

warmth,

was

particularly

intense,

and

conditions in aggregated pueblos were not very hygienic.

Given all the disadvantages of living in aggregated towns, why did people in the

thirteenth

century

move

into

these

closely

packed

quarters?

For

transitions

of

such

suddenness,

archaeologists

consider

either

pull

factors

(benefits

that

drew

families

together)

or

push

factors

(some

external

threat

or

crisis

that

forced

people

to

aggregate). In this case, push explanations dominate.

Population

growth

is

considered

a

particularly

influential

push.

After

several

generations

of

population

growth,

people

packed

the

landscape

in

densities

so

high

that communal pueblos may have been a necessary outcome. Around Sand Canyon,

for

example,

populations

grew

from

5

-12

people

per

square

kilometer

in

the

tenth

century

to

as

many

as

30

-

50

by

the

1200s.

As

densities

increased,

domestic

architecture

became

larger,

culminating

in

crowded

pueblos.

Some

scholars

expand

on

this

idea

by

emphasizing

a

corresponding

need

for

arable

land

to

feed

growing

numbers of people: construction of small dams, reservoirs, terraces, and field houses

indicates

that

farmers

were

intensifying

their

efforts

during

the

1200s.

Competition

over the best fields.

for good farmland may also have prompted people to bond together to

assert rights

Another

important

push

was

the

onset

of

the

Little

Ice

Age,

a

climatic

phenomenon

that

led

to

cooler

temperatures

in

the

Northern

Hemisphere.

Although

the height of the Little Ice Age was still around the corner, some evidence suggests

that

temperatures

were

falling

during

the

thirteenth

century.

The

environmental

changes

associated

with

this

transition

are

not

fully

understood,

but

people

living

closest to the San Juan Mountains, to the northeast of Mesa Verde, were affected first.

Growing

food

at

these

elevations

is

always

difficult

because

of

the

short

growing

season. As the Little Ice Age progressed, farmers probably moved their fields to lower

elevations, infringing on the lands of other farmers and pushing people together, thus

contributing

to

the

aggregations.

Archaeologists

identify

a

corresponding

shift

in

populations

toward

the

south

and

west

toward

Mesa

Verde

and

away

from

higher

elevations.

In the face of all these pushes, people in the Mesa Verde area had yet

another

reason to move into communal villages: the need for greater cooperation. Sharing and

cooperation were almost certainly part of early Puebloan life, even for people living in

largely

independent

single-household

residences

scattered

across

the

landscape.

Archaeologists

find

that

even

the

most

isolated

residences

during

the

eleventh

and

twelfth centuries obtained some pottery, and probably food, from some distance away,

while

major

ceremonial

events

were

opportunities

for

sharing

food

and

crafts.

Scholars

believe

that

this

cooperation

allowed

people

to

contend

with

a

patchy

environment in which precipitation and other resources varied across the landscape: if

you produce a lot of food one year, you might trade it for pottery made by a distant

ally who is having difficulty with crops

—

and the next year, the flow of goods might

go in the opposite direction. But all of this appears to have changed thirteenth century.

Although

the

climate

remained

as

unpredictable

as

ever

between

one

year

and

the

next,

it became much less

locally diverse.

In a

bad

year for farming,

everyone was

equally affected. No longer was it helpful to share widely. Instead, the most sensible