The Cliff Dwellings of the Anasazi

Little is known about why the Anasazi Indians began building these cliff dwellings. One thought is that they were being cannibalized by native Mexican tribes and subjugated. Another is that they were eating each other. Regardless of their peaceful existence (on the outside at least), as a predominantly agricultural culture established around 1200 BC, it is obvious that strife came to these peoples. The Mystery has been what kind of strife and to what extent. Nearly 700 years ago, they completely disappeared, and not in the usual way of a steady decline. There is evidence that their possessions were left behind, bodies were simply left in their dwelling to mummify and the entire culture simply vanished. Theories ranging from war, famine, drought and alien abduction have plagued this mystery for decades.