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Anasazi violence

22 September 2010
Archaeology

At http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/genocide-native-americans-ethnic-cleansing.html … is I think a regurgitation of an old story by Discovery News which has a habit of catching up a few days late – but in this instant a few months late. It probably amounts to ongoing research and excavation at the site – new season dig results. They describe the discovery of nearly fifteen thousand skeletal remains dating back to AD800. The Anasazi appear to have rounded on a neighbouring group of people who were ethnically different – it doesn’t say in which way they differed. A whole community appears to have been methodically exterminated – with evidence of torture and mutilation. It may actually have a connection with drought that was a feature of the 9th century AD and in some strange way, an interpretation of the gods – a religious directive perhaps? The Anasazi are regarded by some modern Americans and westerners in general as an example to us all of a peace loving non-violent people that lived in harmony with the natural world. This rather explodes that naive view.

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