The Chuska Slope as an agricultural alternative to Chaco Canyon: A rebuttal of Tankersley et al. (2016)

I suggest that the substantial amount of winter precipitation in the Chuska Mountains combined with surface-water features (washes) that concentrate and convey spring snowmelt to the eastern Chuska Slope allowed the diversion of surface water to large irrigated fields that at some point sustained over 10,000 residents of the slope. Given the documented trade between Chaco and the Chuskas, I suggest that the Chuska Slope may have provided the subsistence base for many of those residing in Chaco Canyon during its 1050-1130 CE expansion.