Chaco Canyon: Relationship Between Civilization And The Environment

The relationship between civilizations and climate has always been a relatively precarious one. Society builds itself around certain environmental variables in order to survive. When the climate changes, however, the people must change their survival strategies, and even their political structure, or risk the fall of their group to the environment and other factors including warfare. In the case of Chaco Canyon, the environment, among other factors, helped to establish a rigorous hierarchy. The relative stability of climate in the area lead to a consistent, and even overgrowth, of food. As a result, the population grew, allowing more hands to be used for work outside of agriculture (Debuys 2011:84). Eventually, an almost feudal political system resulted in order to regulate the amount of food individuals received. If a farmer experienced a low yield and another had more than enough, the religious elites likely split the harvest among them. The religious system reinforced the hierarchical institution by forcing citizens to build structures for the priestly elite (Debuys 2011:84). The
A roof-less great kiva found at the site gave evidence of a shift in religious ideologies (Debuys 2011: 92). Without a roof, the Kiva was substantially more open to the public, erasing previous lines drawn by the Chacoan priestly elite. The systematic change was possibly a result of the people learning to adapt to the new environment by not relying on a continual waste of goods to build new structures as a religious necessity. Unfortunately, however, this adaptation, while potentially successful for the environment, was not enough to save them. Bodies found left unburied among the ruins of the San Canyon Pueblo with evidence of fatal weapon wounds depict a violent end for the people (Debuys 2011: 79). Clearly, climate was not the only factor in the fall of the southwest