Could the Ancestral Puebloans of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, Have Depended on a Groundwater Ecosystem?

Abstract

A thousand years ago, a population of Ancestral Puebloans occupied a high desert canyon in northwestern New Mexico, USA, where precipitation was limited and surface water scarce. Geological conditions, however, seem favorable for the production of a large Hypocrene springs system near the south canyon walls sufficient to have produced a groundwater ecosystem favorable for agriculture, tree growth, and human occupancy. A human-induced ecological impact is suggested as contributing to the dewatering of the springs, eventually reducing local agricultural production and, presumably, the suitability of Chaco Canyon for human occupancy.