All of the ruins were abandoned in the 1200’s. This is accounted for,
partly at least, by several factors—high winds sweeping the
moisture-conserving cinder fields, climatic changes, and disease among
the Indians. It brought to a close one of the unique chapters of
Southwestern archeology. Probably among the present day Hopis the
descendants of these people are to be found.
Drought and disease, possibly also attacks of nomad enemies, caused the
abandonment by the Pueblos of most of northern Arizona during the
thirteenth century. This region, the Tsegi region (Navajo National
Monument and vicinity), and the region of Canyon de Chelly National
Monument were deserted. The survivors from all these areas must have
congregated at the Hopi mesas, where the springs never fail. Later, in
the fourteenth century, the great pueblos of Chaves Pass and Homolovi
(near Winslow, Ariz.) and of the Verde Valley (notably Tuzigoot and
Montezuma Castle National Monuments) were abandoned, their people going
northeast to swell the Hopi nation. When the Spaniards arrived in 1540
there were no pueblo villages occupied in Arizona save those of the
Hopi, in Tusayan.
[Illustration: The Citadel]