the year we have just spent with the people of cliff palace was a normal year for all of the people of the mesa verde. we have seen the daily events in one cliff dwelling and we may feel sure that similar events were taking place in each of the many hundreds of cliff dwellings on the great mesa.
there was not a single occurrence that made it any different from the countless other normal years they experienced. it did not remain long in their memories for it was just one more year when all of the forces of nature worked in perfect harmony. there was an abundance of snow and rain, and food was plentiful. there were no catastrophes or memorable events.
good years, such as that one, were soon forgotten. the years they remembered were those that brought sadness or disaster. talkative old men long remembered the years of terrific drouth or the year the crops were destroyed by forest fires. they did not soon forget the evil summer when almost all of the babies died of a strange malady, and for centuries the storytellers recalled the year when a monster swallowed the sun completely for a few minutes. those were the unusual years and they served as mile posts. time was measured from them.
the years of catastrophe did not come often. it was only occasionally that the crops failed and when they did the people were prepared for it. a thousand years of farming in the mesa verde had taught them that every few years they must expect a dry year without a harvest. often they were able to predict such a season in advance. if the heavy snows of december and january and february failed to come, the men began to worry. then if the spring rains failed to come, the farmers became quite sure that the harvests would be poor. months in advance they began to prepare for the lean year that faced them.
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food was measured out sparingly: not a grain of corn or a pinch of meal was wasted. the women searched endlessly for wild plant foods and the men went hunting day after day. by living more on meat and wild plants they were able to conserve the stores of corn and beans. water supplies were built up and they tried to enter the summer season with every available drop stored in their jars and in the pools in the canyon. new springs were developed and in extreme cases the women even walked four miles down the canyon to the mancos river for water.
by skillfully adjusting themselves to conditions the people were able to survive a year of drouth with little difficulty. a second year of crop failure was very serious but still it could be managed and occasionally during their occupancy of the mesa verde they had even survived periods of drouth that lasted several years. such an ordeal brought suffering and hardship: it meant death for many of the weaker people. but still it could be endured.
so it was that when drouth settled down upon the mesa verde in the year 1276 a.d., the people thought nothing of it. they had just enjoyed several good years and they worried little when the crops failed. they took the usual precautions and the priests assured them that the next year would be normal again. but the drouth did not break. year after year it continued. a generation passed and still the drouth did not end.
the rings of trees which grew at that time show that the drouth continued for twenty-four years. from 1276, through 1299, rainfall was below normal in the mesa verde and surrounding regions. many of the years were unbelievably dry. some were only moderately dry and a few were almost normal. but throughout the long period, rainfall was far below average. winter snows were light and failed to restore the soil moisture. summer rains were often completely lacking. each year the soil lost more of its moisture and only the hardiest plants were able to survive. during the entire period there probably was not a harvest worthy of the name.
the drouth was the worst ever known in the southwest and its effect on the people of the mesa verde was tragic. year after year the crops withered in the fields. wild food plants also died or failed to reproduce. the larger game animals drifted off to the mountains and the smaller animals diminished 135 in numbers. in their search for food the women scoured the mesas until there was not an edible plant left. the men hunted far and wide with less and less luck. still the drouth continued. water supplies dwindled. during the winter the pools in the canyon failed to fill and the lack of moisture caused the springs to become mere trickles. it was impossible to wring water from the earth when no water was there.
the people were faced with three terrors; the lack of food, the lack of water, and the wrath of the gods. the first two actually existed; the last existed only in their minds. consequently, it was the worst of all. added to their tragic need of food and water was the horrible fear that their gods had deserted them.
how the priests must have labored. every ceremony, every trick they knew was repeated time after time as the drouth progressed. the cliff dwellings echoed with the chants and sun temple, the great ceremonial building, must have been the scene of countless super-ceremonials as the priests of the various villages threw their combined strength into the fight.
still the drouth continued!
throughout the mesa verde there was much death from starvation and disease. food and water were practically exhausted. the tragic moment came when they were forced to eat the seed corn. this was the last resort: it could be fatal to farmers. only when death faced them did they sacrifice the precious seed for there could never be another crop unless they were fortunate enough to find other people with surplus supplies. the result was inevitable. since the drouth would not end the people could only drift away, hoping to find better conditions elsewhere. it was their only chance of survival.
the migration from the mesa verde must have taken place gradually. as a matter of fact, there are indications that the migrations began even before the drouth came. at an earlier date vast areas around the mesa verde were occupied by members of the same tribe. some time before 1200 a.d., however, the population began to dwindle and by the time the drouth came almost all of the area, except the mesa verde, was deserted.
in all probability, these early migrations were caused by pressure from an enemy tribe for there is much to indicate that 136 the people were in trouble. certainly the population was dwindling long before the great drouth began. the identity of the enemy is not definitely known. it has been suggested that the apaches may have entered the region at that time, or possibly the early utes. no definite evidence of the enemy people has been found but their pressure is indicated by their effect upon the peaceful farming indians.
the migration from the mesa verde probably took place gradually; certainly there was no mass movement. as the drouth continued small groups drifted off in search of better conditions. all of the people of a small village may have moved together but the larger towns must have broken up gradually. cliff palace and other large cliff dwellings probably were deserted a clan at a time. as conditions became more desperate the people quarreled over the dwindling supplies. there must have been many cases of actual violence as frenzied men sought to obtain food and water for their starving families. dissatisfaction and discontent mounted rapidly and the once happy towns were abandoned by their people as clan after clan took to the trail in search of new homes.
before the twenty-four year drouth was over, the mesa verde was entirely deserted and there is no evidence that any of the people ever returned. since that tragic time the cliff dwellings have been empty and silent as they have fought against the heavy, leveling hand of time.
when the people left the mesa verde their troubles were not over. the drouth was felt all over the southwest and life was possible only in the most favorable spots. added to the misfortunes of the drifting people was the increased activity of the nomadic indians for they, too, suffered from the drouth. it is possible that their increased activities hastened the flight from the mesa verde for they must have preyed upon the farming peoples during the troubled times.
although large numbers perished before and during the migration, many of the mesa verde indians did survive. the major migration seems to have been to the southeast and finally the people settled in the rio grande valley. one group crossed the river and for a time lived in the gallisteo basin, a short distance southeast of the present city of santa fe, new mexico. after a time this area was deserted and the people mingled 137 with other pueblo indians along the rio grande. as they merged with the others they gradually lost their identity as mesa verde people.
during the great drouth the population of the southwest was diminished and many regions were abandoned forever by the pueblo indians. when the drouth finally ended the survivors were concentrated in the most favorable spots where there were the best supplies of water, the finest farming lands or good natural defenses against the nomadic indians.
in some regions they prospered for a time but never again did they reach the high level they had attained before the great drouth. perhaps the drouth caused a dry rot to set in and the fortunes of the pueblo people waned. when coronado came there were less than eighty pueblos: today there are less than thirty.
the people of these present-day pueblos are the descendants of scores of thousands of pueblo indians who once lived in the southwest. in their veins, greatly thinned by the centuries, flows the blood of the ancient people of the mesa verde.
