Archaeologists discover evidence of a vanished civilisation from 1300s
Lucy Pasha-Robinson,The Independent 5 hours ago Posted on 08/10/2017 10:26:26 AM PDT by ckilmer
Lucy Pasha-Robinson,The Independent 5 hours ago 
Archaeologists may have discovered evidence of an ancient civilisation that disappeared from a corner of the southwestern US over seven centuries ago.
The exodus of the Ancestral Puebloans has baffled scientists for years after they vanished without a trace from Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park in the 13th Century.
One theory was the group - also known as the Anasazi - had simply migrated several hundred kilometres east.
Now scientists may have found the evidence to prove that theory by studying the genetic composition of ancient animal bones buried in the region.
Mitochondrial DNA from ancient turkey bones found there had been an influx of fowl in the late 1300s, and prior to 1280 the turkeys’ lineage had been different.
The evidence suggests the Anasazi suffered some kind of change in climate, political upheaval, drought or other during this time, lending weight to the theory that they migrated.
“Results are consistent with a large-scale migration of humans, accompanied by their domestic turkeys, during the 13th century CE,” researchers wrote.
“These results support scenarios that suggest contemporary Pueblo peoples of the Northern Rio Grande are biological and cultural descendants of Four Corners populations.”
The study titled “Prehistoric mitochondrial DNA of domesticate animals supports a 13th century exodus from the northern US southwest” was first published in the journal PlosOne.
They probably left because the National Park Fees just keep going up.
Very interesting. I really need to do more reading on this.
So these bricklayers decided to give up their homes to live out in the heat and cold and snow and rain?
Must have been union.
Sigh. You beat me to it. ;-D
They probably elected a bunch of Liberals to their Tribal Council, and when their taxes got too high they moved someplace else and did it all over again.
Perhaps it was only the turkeys that migrated.
>>after they vanished without a trace
Seems there’s a trace... of cannibalism.
https://www.google.com/search?site=&source=hp&q=Cannibalism+anasazi
Who Ate the Anasazi?
HINT: Not Christopher Columbus.
Probably global warming...err climate change.
This confirms what most people already thought was the most reasonable explanation - that the modern puebloans are the descendants of the Anasazi. Basically, hiding in plain sight, living as they have for centuries.
Such is the state of American journalism that they no longer realize that the 1300s are the 14th Century.
BTW the CE referred in the article mean ‘Christ Era’. just thought I would clear that up. And BCE mean ‘Before Christ Era’.
I was under the impression BCE stood for "Before the Common Era".
“an influx of fowl”
Bird flu.
They would never do that! They were indigenous people communing with nature and living harmoniousy with the animals and the environment.
I expect them to find 700 year old pinatas any day now.
Well, they wouldn't have had far to go. And, nice as the Chaco cultural hearth may have been, when a drought hits, such as the 25-year dry spell from around 1280-1320 AD, people cannot sustain in place. They have to go near a river that gets snow runoff.
At about the same time, there were invaders from what is now Mexico (hmmm) and, being of Aztec persuasion, they were much more able to make war and intimidate (it is thought they also brought cannibalism, ritual or otherwise, to the region -- as butchered human bones should suggest).
The little Mogollon people in Eastern AZ and Western NM also vanished about this same time.
Interesting thing is that in the same time frame the cahokia pyramid people of southeastern Illinois also disappeared. Its thought that the climate change that brought drought to the south west also brought big flooding to the Mississippi valley for the first time 400 years.
BCE = Before Crappy Elitists
Very good point; thanks for bringing it into the mix.
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