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Monthly Meeting

THE TURBULENT SOUTHWEST IN THE AD 1200S WITH DEPOPULATION OF THE FOUR CORNERS REGION: WHAT HAPPENED?

Thomas C. Windes

7:30 PM, Tuesday, September 15, 2026 Albuquerque Museum of Art and History 2000 Mountain Road NW

In the AD 1200s, the Southwest saw much migration and turbulent times for peoples across the region. The Four Corners suffered from an episode of nearly total depopulation of horticulturalists by the late AD 1200s. Although early on, tree-ring data revealed a Great Drought in the late AD 1200s, later work has shown that the drought was not sufficiently damaging to force the massive depopulation of the region that took place. So what happened? This talk will focus on the archaeology of the SE Utah area, where a number of sites were documented for this mid- and late-1200s period. Other areas across the region, such Mesa Verde, closely follow the same timing. The building behavior in this period reveals a retreat to southeast Utah, among other places, from the dense population centers in the east to remote highly defensible areas in the Bears Ears National Monument area. Tree-ring data show a remarkable concordance of these sites with a natural event that happened somewhere else in the world that caused catastrophic misery across the planet. A similar more recent event helps us understand the magnitude of these natural occurrences and the danger they pose for societies across the world. Tom says: Don’t fret, it’s just a talk; there will be refreshment afterwards!

Thomas C. Windes was born and grew up in Maryland. His BA in Anthropology is from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Following graduation, Tom came west for graduate school at UNM and never left. He earned his MA in 1967. He was a crew chief for UNM field schools at Sapawe and Tsama. After a brief stint working for the US Forest Service (USFS), he found his true calling as an archaeologist for the National Park Service Chaco project from 1972-2006. Following his 2006 retirement, Tom has continued to this day as a volunteer for the Park Service, working on Chaco as well as other southwestern parks. He also volunteers for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and USFS, mostly in SE Utah in the Bears Ears National Monument area. Following a graduate level course in dendroarchaeology from the University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, he has sampled tree rings in churches, historic structures, and villages all over New Mexico. He has over 130 publications, including four multi-volume monographs of excavation work in Chaco Canyon. Among his many honors, Tom was 2018 ASNM annual volume honoree, with Peter McKenna, as Two Gentlemen of Chaco. He was also the recipient of the NM Archaeological Council 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award. Tom is a longtime member of AAS, and was our vice-president in 1976.