In any event, the big cultural centers broke down. Over time, Mesa Verdeans had abandoned their mesa-top structures to build elaborate, multi-room cliff dwellings in the same area. At Chaco, pueblos on open ground were given up for new ones at the base of cliffs. All of that suggests that they sought protection from an enemy.

The newer villages and towns must have been more defensible. Yet, if an enemy raided the agricultural fields and destroyed the remaining crops, the Anasazi might have fled to safety only to face starvation.