WARFARE

Anasazis may not have been the peaceable kingdom of farmers and potters. Tough times may have resulted on a bloody internecine war. A study by Ambler and Sutton (1989) constitudes a good example of this hyphotesis.

THE ANASAZI ABANDONMENT OF THE SAN JUAN DRAINAGE AND THE NUMIC EXPANSION by Ambler and Sutton (1989)

Recognizing the fact that the Pueblo III people built many defensive structures prior to abandoning the area some archeologist believed that Athabaskan groups precipitated the Anasazi movement (Jett, 1964). This hypothesis was however discarded when it became clear that the Athabaskan arrived to the Southwest some two centuries later too late to have impacted the Pueblo III groups (Gunnerson, 1956) and that another explanation was needed.  

The expansion of Numic speaking populations from southeastern California into the Great Basin and its periphery was hypothesized by Lamb (1958).  The authors of this paper argue for this explanation. They said that the Numic expansion was at least partially military in nature , in addition there is evidence that the Paiute arrived in the San Juan drainage prior to the Navajo and could have adversely affected the Anasazi (Ambler and Sutton, 1989). 

The authors believe that the Numic Southern Pauite and Ute exerted successfully used hit-and-run tactics to displace larger, more sedentary populations of Anasazi (around 1200 A.C.).  Evidence of this relies on the fact that  the latest Anasazi sites in any area were defensive. 

They believe that Anasazi were not defending from themselves but from other community with different dialect background.

Repply by (Rafferty, 1989)

Alternative explanation the Anasazi abandoned after the collapse of economic and political relationships with the Greater Southwest clik here

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