Moderator:
1. Was drought the main concern for your people?
I would like to ask this question because at the end of the chapter, the researcher mentions that there was still enough food to support some of the population and while it wasn’t the entire population so some people were forced to move there is still a question as to whether or not food was the only challenge. This question will hopefully get more insight as to whether food was the only concern for the society or if there were other factors that played a role including soil nutrients, wood, and other forms of environmental degradation as well.
2. If you lived in the Great Houses, what was your view on the ‘peasants’? Or- If you lived in the homestead (peasant homes) what was your view on the people who lived in the Great Houses?
I want to ask this question because there was a very interesting social dynamic in the society. It seemed as though the rich who lived in the Great Houses had much better access to the scarce resources compared to the ‘peasants’ who lived in the small homesteads therefore, this question looks at some of the social implications of extremely limited resources of the society. Some of these social implications could have contributed to much of the civil unrest which led to the downfall of the society.
3. How do you feel about the location in which you live? Did you think that your settlement would run out of resources too quickly?
I want to ask this question because many people living in the society might not have been so happy with the location in which they were living. There were very limited resources however since the people living there were more familiar with the resources that they had they might have felt as though they were not going to run out of necessary resources. This question is interesting because it questions whether people knew that they were going to run out or whether they were in denial that it would actually happen.
4. Did you ever partake in cannibalism? If, so why?
There was a section in the chapter about members of the society partaking in cannibalism. This seems to be a fairly unique feature of the downfall of the society and while there is numerous pieces of evidence pointing towards the Anasazi partaking in cannibalism. However, there is still controversy surrounding whether or not the people actually consumed the meat of others therefore this question covers this topic and questions whether people actually did and for what reason. It seems that it was much more prominent during the downfall of the society.
5. Were you able to tell over time that resources were being depleted?
I want to ask this question because I am curious about whether people in the society were aware that their resources were quickly going. This is a good question because if people had known that they were running out of food and water they maybe could have done things to preserve what they did have left and use it more efficiently before it ran out. People had to have known that they were in an area where rain water was limited but they might not have known that they were also running out of trees which provide a main source of food. If they did not know that their resources were being depleted on such a rapid scale they could not have done anything about it until it was too late which could have ultimately been a contributing factor to the fall of the society.
Character 1:
Character Description: I’m a young boy from an Artisan family and I specialize in Arts and Architecture. I make things with my own hands to benefit my family and my society. My mom makes kitchen utensils and home equipment for my family’s house while my dad builds houses and buildings to benefit my family and my people.
Brief Essay: When my society collapsed so much change happened in my life like never before it was terrible but life changing to a new normal. We had an Environmental damage that led to me and family losing water supply for us to use and drink it was devastating I almost thought I was going to die out of thirst. I could not even build things like I used too and my Father stopped working with Architecture due to the thirst of loss of water. Climate change occurred in my society. The weather was not like it was before. It is now colder than last time and my family could not sleep at nights with no breeze but freezing this time. My neighboring society were greedy and they were more wealthier than us and they could not even give us small amount of charity or trade to help us grow from the poverty we are going through in my society. Likewise my society had friendly neighbors that traded with us. They made us grow through with their generous charity. I hope my family and the Anasazi Civilizations will be the most remembered Civilizations in the future to come.
Character 2:
Character Description: I am a hunter who lives in Misa Verde. Venison is a commodity within the Anasazi community. Although our family lives in a homestead, we make ends meet as a family of hunters. We are able to share our game with other people and we get crops from the farmers, pottery from the Hohokam and Mimbre merchants, and logs for housing repairs from the loggers in return for our hunting.
Brief Essay: The environmental damage from deforestation and salinization greatly impacted the deer we hunted for food and as my family’s primary source of income. The increasing population made the natural resources deplete at a gradual rate. Trees we being logged at a rate faster than the rate they can regrow. Fresh water became difficult to find during the long periods of drought. Eventually deer became difficult to find and I instead hunted small game such as rabbits and mice. The rare instances of acquiring deer were sold to the wealthy individuals from the Great Houses now that income became the priority over delicious venison. Our family like many peasants resorted to cannibalism of deceased relatives and corpses from the casualties of the internal wars the Anasazi people faced now that our venison could no longer be food for us peasants. Anasazi were a thriving civilization until the natural resources became depleted because of environmental damage from the growing human population.
Character 3
Character description: I am part of the Anasazi tribe and my family, and I are farmers. We plant and harvest crops such as corn, beans, and squash to help feed our society. Planting and harvesting are more stressful than they appear. It’s hard to find an area suitable to plant our crops. As for the foods we harvest, we help feed our community. It is hard work, and we don’t eat as much as the elite, but we get to spend a great deal of time working together out in nature.
Brief essay: As population grew in our society, I and several others I worked with began to notice more difficulties in planting and sustaining the growth of our crops. Some years felt as though our society has reached a haven. There was enough rain to sustain our crops to feed us all. However, in recent years, we have seen less rain. We have planted several crops, only to find that they are not growing, or die shortly after they start growing. We have noticed some of our streams run dry, and this has worried many of us. Where else can we get water? Water cannot easily be carried over great distances. In order to do so, some of us have dug arroyos to help transport water. Sometimes these get flooded over when a big rainstorm comes. I often wonder, how much further do we have to travel to find areas where we can sustain crops for our people? What are alternative methods? Is it better to stay or leave this area?
As we continue to work and look for other areas and alternative farming methods, we have noticed that the soil to hold our crops in some locations has been washed away. We have also noticed a change in scenery; there are not as many trees as there used to be. We used to have trees close to us, but now, we have to travel further to see any trees. There are also less deer and other larger animals near our community. Everything seems to only be spreading outwards further away from us. The only thing coming in closer to us is aggression. Some people have gotten super aggressive due to starvation, with some anecdotes of people eating others once they have died or been killed. Conditions have gotten bad enough to the point that my family and I sometimes consider the alternative; leaving this area. But that alternative also poses risks, such as where can we go where the land will be good enough for us to survive? Who will we run into when we leave our community? Will they be friendly and accepting towards us? There is too much uncertainty.
Character 4
Character Description: What was your character’s role in this society? Describe your character and their place within the society. (2-5 sentences, 1.5 points)
I live in the Anasazi tribe which at its height numbered about 4,000 people. I am a laborer responsible for gathering and transporting building materials and clearing land. We cut trees and transport logs up to 16 feet long and weighing up to 700 pounds.
Brief Essay: Assess which of Diamond’s five factors your character might have observed and write about them in the first person from their perspective. What would they say to someone who asked them what their life was like? (1-2 paragraphs, 4.5 points
Our land is a dry and the climate is hot. To a newcomer it looks like a wasteland, but we know the land and vegetation well. We harvest pinyon nuts and irrigate our crops and we have created an oasis in the desert. The other laborers and I frequent the forests in Chaco Canyon to harvest pinyon nuts and to cut down trees for our buildings. My job is hard work and over time it only became harder. We cut trees and transport logs up to 16 feet long weighing up to 700 pounds. I take pride in my work. Over time, our population began to grow and we had to find ways to feed and house our children. It was my job to cut down the pinyon pines and juniper trees to build more stories onto our buildings.
Eventually, we began to return to the forests to cut down more trees than we had ever cut before. As time passed I could see the forests diminishing. Soon we laborers began to travel long and far to find more trees to cut down. When the trees began to diminish so did our major source of food, the pinyon nuts. Instead, the farmers in the community increased the agricultural fields to feed more people. Our climate is hot and dry and we rely on irrigation from ground water to water our fields.
Soon, the dry years came and the famers were noticing that the groundwater was dried up. They could no longer irrigate our crops to feed our exploding population. Before, we could harvest pinyon nuts and live off our harvests. But now, the trees are cut down and there are more people to feed. And still, the rain is not coming. Eventually, the rain came and filled the water table enough for us to irrigate. The rain saved us, but our environment and tribe was never the same. The forests were gone and members of the tribe were finding new ways to adapt to the changes.
Every day my job is to go out to search for trees and building materials to house our population. We transport thousands of logs down the mountains and over 50+ miles back to Chaco Canyon. During these long journeys I didn’t notice the changes in the land until I returned. Nor did I have any control over how to adapt to these changes because I was occupied with building structures to house our population.
Character 5
Character Description: As a young Anasazi woman, it is my duty as an elite, and daughter of the sitting Headman, to find a suitable Anasazi man in which to bring forth the new generation of great Anasazi Headmen with. I live in the great house nestled in the Chaco Canyon itself. Our building has 30 rooms, much more than the peasant dwellings below. We are fortunate to be able to collect such exquisite things like turquoise, macaws, shell jewelry, and copper bells. When our tradesmen come back from traveling to neighborhood villages, sometimes we are blessed with imported Mimbres and Hohokam pottery. My family lives a pleasant life, and gets to feast on deer and antelope regularly.
Brief Essay: As daughter of the chief, I witnessed first hand the struggles he dealt with to try and keep our people alive. Years ago (1000 AD) there were forests of Pinyon and Juniper trees as far as the eye could see. But as our workmen cut them down to build homes for our growing population, they did not return. Some say the trees could not keep up with how fast they were being brought down, others say they cannot grow because the soil is too desolate. Without firewood and timber available to us, we were forced to send out hoards of men to collect logs and bring them back down the mountain with just the sweat off their backs. In the time where there were still trees, our people built channels for irrigation to expand our crop yield. Deep arroyos were cut into the earth, which worked for a little bit, until the water levels dipped below our fields. Now, it is impossible for them to fill up based solely on groundwater, forcing the peasants to plant our crops by the irregular schedule of rain. And it has been a dry year. When there is no rain, tensions run high. There have even been a few attacks aimed at my family in the Great House, as the peasants starve below us. I have heard my father whisper of people in the valley eating their deceased family, and I pray that I never see that kind of desperation. Without any close neighboring villages to rely on in times of need, we are forced to wait until the skys give us rain again. Our people have worked and thrived on these lands for more than 5 centuries, but my father talks of leaving these cliffs for opportunities further West.
Character 6
Character description: I am 17 years old girl and I live in a small living with my younger sister and baby brother in a t.he Anasazi tribe in 50 mile area settlement in Chaco Canyon. I help my mother and 2 younger sisters forage for for wild plants, such as high protein pinyon nuts, while my father and brother hunt for deer and small animals. I also help my family plant, care for and harvest crops much of the year.
Brief essay: We have a large population and most family have at least 5 members like ours. It helps to have many hands to help as we have long growing season for crops since we live in a low elevation canyon. But our climate is arid and the rainfall is sometimes unpredictable. Some years the crops are not as abundant due to due to the lack of rainfall, especially when the arroyos do not fill up enough to irrigate the fields.
My life in the village is hard work, but I also enjoy working with my family. The community also grows and harvests at different sites and crops are distributed in sites that did not have a good rainfall. It is great having this interconnectedness and meeting other villages. But life is not always safe as neighboring people sometimes visit to obtain crops, but some also make trouble. There has been some times of fighting and warfare. A neighboring village was burned and people were killed. There have even been rumors of the attackers eating the people. The ones that survived took refuge in our village. We were glad to help, but food has become even more scarce with the droughts and more people in the village, which was already quite populated. We are doing our best to work together to keep the crops growing and helping each other through drought, strife and other problems.
Character 7:
Character Description: I am a young man living in the Anasazi tribe. There are generally two groups within our society- the rich elite living in luxury and the farmers and laborers who provide food and supplies to the elite. I am a part of the latter demographic. I live in a small homestead called a pit house with my other family members.
Brief Essay: In my life as a member of the Anasazi, the level of environmental damage I witnessed was unparalleled. In our height, our tribe’s population was growing exponentially around 1000 A.D. A growing population meant that we had to resort to even more logging. Couple that with the fact that our climate was very dry and hot, it meant that deforestation became a huge environmental issue. This eliminated our usual pinyon nuts as a food supply and forced us to find a different timber source for construction.
In the Anasazi tribe, we had the tallest buildings in pre-Columbian North America. We did not have a writing system, but our society was complexly organized and interdependent. My diet consisted of squash, corn, deer, beans, and pinyon nuts (before they were eliminated as a food source).