▶ Your Answer : According to the reading, the
Anasazi civilization disappeared around the end of 13th century. The
reading passage stated that experts think they have abandoned their homeland
because of drought. However, the lecturer claims that the evidences provided in
the reading passage are not reliable.
First, the lecturer argued
that the excavations of bones that indicate malnutrition among Anasazi people
is not the evidence that drought is the cause of migration. According to a
study, malnutrition was very common in the Anasazi civilization. Almost half of
Anasazi children were suffering from malnutrition. This was because people had
to donate their crops to their religious elites who use those crops in
religious ceremony.
Also, the lecturer thinks it
is invalid to think that the state of abandoned settlements is the proof. If
they were abandoning their homeland temporarily because of drought, they had to
reoccupy their homeland after the drought ended. But they didn’t. Moreover, the
drought in Anasazi civilization didn’t persist that long. So, she argues that
drought is not the cause of migration in this civilization.
Finally, the lecturer
contended that the Anasazi didn’t settle in the areas with enough water supply.
For example, they settled in a region near Arizona which was lack of water
supply. It wasn’t suitable for agriculture. For these reasons, the lecturer
doesn’t agree with the reading passage. |