BMN Morning Sparkle

Good Morning
My left hand is hurting from what I suppose is gout, so typing this morning will be limited, unless of course the colchicine I took at 4:30AM does what it is supposed to do.
(hours pass) Hmmm, not feeling a heck of a lot better.

Let's see what I can do.
the first photo from yesterday morning is unusual in that the dogs aren't at and in the river before me. It just happened that they ran the other way, letting me arrive first to see the undisturbed water. 

(Morning-sparkle-July19th2012-three-dogs-in) That did not last long. All three jumped in and swam in circles, as if claiming this their swimming hole.

(Morning-sparkle-July19th2012water) I keep thinking we ought to plant some fruit trees and berry bushes down there. It is so lush. Maybe it just seems lush compared to ten feet away because of this damn drought.

(Morning-sparkle-July19th2012round-and-round)
Buddy is the last dog out.
Sorry I need to copy and paste this morning. I was reading about the Anasazi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Pueblo_Peoples
Curiosity about local climate change and how these ancient people coped or not.
Interesting reading
The dogs are bugging me to go for a walk
[Brian] Over and out

Cultural development

[edit] Origins

Ancient Pueblo People Eras
Archaic–Early Basketmaker Era 7000 – 1500 BC
Early Basketmaker II Era 1500 BC – AD 50
Late Basketmaker II Era AD 50 – 500
Basketmaker III Era AD 500 – 750
Pueblo I Era AD 750 – 900
Pueblo II Era AD 900 – 1150
Pueblo III Era AD 1150 – 1350
Pueblo IV Era AD 1350 – 1600
Pueblo V Era AD 1600 – present
v t e

The period from 700-1130 CE (Pueblo I and II Eras) saw a rapid increase in population due to consistent and regular rainfall patterns. Studies of skeletal remains show that this growth was due to increased fertility rather than decreased mortality. However, this tenfold increase in population over the course of a few generations could not be achieved by increased birthrate alone; likely it also involved migrations of peoples from surrounding areas. Innovations such as pottery, food storage, and agriculture enabled this rapid growth. Over several decades, the Ancient Pueblo culture spread across the landscape.

Ancient Pueblo culture has been divided into three main areas or branches, based on geographical location:

• Chaco Canyon (northwest New Mexico)
• Kayenta (northeast Arizona), and
• Northern San Juan (Mesa Verde and Hovenweep National Monument) (southwest Colorado and southeastern Utah).

Modern Pueblo oral traditions hold that the Pueblo originated to the north of their current settlements, from sipapu, where they emerged from the underworld. For unknown ages they were led by war chiefs guided by the Spirits across North America. They settled first in the Ancient Pueblo areas for a few hundred years, then migrated to their current location.[citation needed]

[edit] Migration from the homeland

It is not entirely clear why the Ancestral Puebloans migrated from their established homes in the 12th and 13th centuries. Factors examined and discussed include global or regional climate change (cf. Little Ice Age), prolonged periods of drought, cyclical periods of topsoil erosion, environmental degradation, de-forestation, hostility from new arrivals, religious or cultural change, and even influence from Mesoamerican cultures. Many of these possibilities are supported by archaeological evidence.

Current opinion holds that the Ancestral Puebloans responded to pressure from Numic-speaking peoples moving onto the Colorado Plateau, as well as climate change that resulted in agricultural failures. The archaeological record indicates that it was not unusual for ancient Pueblo peoples to adapt to climatic change by changing residences and locations.[19] Early Pueblo I Era sites may have housed up to 600 individuals in a few separate but closely spaced settlement clusters. However, they were generally occupied for a mere 30 years or less. Archaeologist Timothy A. Kohler excavated large Pueblo I sites near Dolores, Colorado, and discovered that they were established during periods of above-average rainfall. This would allow crops to be grown without benefit of irrigation. At the same time, nearby areas experiencing significantly drier patterns were abandoned.

The ancient Pueblos attained a cultural "Golden Age" between about 900 and 1150. During this time, generally classed as Pueblo II Era, the climate was relatively warm and rainfall mostly adequate. Communities grew larger and were inhabited for longer periods of time. Highly specific local traditions in architecture and pottery emerged, and trade over long distances appears to have been common. Domesticated turkeys appear.[20]

After approximately 1150, North America experienced significant climatic change in the form of a 300-year drought called the Great Drought. This also led to the collapse of the Tiwanaku civilization around Lake Titicaca in present-day Bolivia.[21] The contemporary Mississippian culture also collapsed during this period. Confirming evidence is found in excavations of the western regions of the Mississippi Valley between 1150 and 1350, which show long-lasting patterns of warmer, wetter winters and cooler, drier summers. In this later period, the Pueblo II became more self-contained, decreasing trade and interaction with more distant communities. Southwest farmers developed irrigation techniques appropriate to seasonal rainfall, including soil and water control features such as check dams and terraces. The population of the region continued to be mobile, abandoning settlements and fields under adverse conditions. Along with the change in precipitation patterns, there was a drop in water table levels due to a different cycle unrelated to rainfall. This forced the abandonment of settlements in the more arid or over-farmed locations.[citation needed]

Evidence suggests a profound change in religion in this period. Chacoan and other structures constructed originally along astronomical alignments, and thought to have served important ceremonial purposes to the culture, were systematically dismantled. Doorways were sealed with rock and mortar. Kiva walls show marks from great fires set within them, which probably required removal of the massive roof – a task which would require significant effort. Habitations were abandoned, tribes split and divided and resettled far elsewhere. This evidence suggests that the religious structures were deliberately abandoned slowly over time. Puebloan tradition holds that the ancestors had achieved great spiritual power and control over natural forces, and used their power in ways that caused nature to change, and caused changes that were never meant to occur. Possibly, the dismantling of their religious structures was an effort to symbolically undo the changes they believed they caused due to their abuse of their spiritual power, and thus make amends with nature.

Most modern Pueblo peoples (whether Keresans, Hopi, or Tanoans) assert the ancient Pueblo did not "vanish", as is commonly portrayed in media presentations or popular books, but migrated to areas in the southwest with more favorable rainfall and dependable streams. They merged into the various Pueblo peoples whose descendants still live in Arizona and New Mexico. This perspective is not new. It was presented by early 20th century anthropologists, including Frank Hamilton Cushing, J. Walter FewkesAlfred V. Kidder. Many modern Pueblo tribes trace their lineage from settlements. For example, the San Ildefonso Pueblo peopleMogollon. The contemporary historian James W. Loewen agrees with the oral traditions in his book, Lies Across America: What Our Historic Markers and Monuments Get Wrong (1999), but there is not a consensus within the professional academic community. and believe that their ancestors lived in both the Mesa Verde and the Bandelier areas. Evidence also suggests that a profound change took place in the Ancestral Pueblo area and areas inhabited by their cultural neighbors, the

 

 

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