(5/17/2000) What happened to the peaceful ancient Pueblo civilization of the American southwest? For 1,000 years, the Anasazi — a democratic people with rich achievements in architecture, agriculture, astronomy, and art — flourished in what is now New Mexico. Yet around 1200 A.D., something brought their utopia to a sudden and mysterious end. Palaeoanthropologist Christy Turner has found what he believes are clear signs of cannibalism among the Anasazi ruins, but American Indian groups and other archaeologists are skeptical. And while the evidence is difficult to refute, the meaning of the findings is still open to debate. In the shadow of a debate both scientific and political, questions remain: Did the Anasazi culture become cannibalistic, or did cannibalism from afar stumble across the perfect victims?