Early pathways of exploration were eventually supplanted by the extensive trade  routes of the Anasazi, an ancient native culture that left magnificent stone pueblos (villages) and cliff dwellings as mute testimony to their once-thriving presence in the Four Corners region – the Colorado Plateau of  Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.  Chaco Canyon had once supported a large, prosperous civilization before it was mysteriously abandoned around 1300 AD.  Nobody knows for certain what became of the  Anasazi.

Above: Pueblo ruins of Frijole Canyon in the Bandolier National Monument.  The Anasazi who lived here probably abandoned the site sometime in the early 1600's.