Chaco Canyon depopulation

1120

In the Four Corners region of North America, the great houses of Chaco Canyon - including Pueblo Bonito, whose rooms numbered in the hundreds - began to be abandoned as drought intensified. Populations scattered to outlying settlements, and the political network that had radiated from Chaco dissolved. The roads and signal stations that had connected Chaco to communities across the Colorado Plateau fell silent, ending an era of centralized power.