Aztlan

[Cognito]

Navajo (Dine) is rooted in the Athabaskan Languages family, as is Apache. It seems that my mother's ancestors were late-comers to the Southwest.

Orthodoxy has them showing up on the scene about 1450AD, and originating in the Pacific Northwest. They probably relocated for the same reason I moved south ... too much rain!

[War Arrow]

Navajo (Dine) is rooted in the Athabaskan Languages family, as is Apache. It seems that my mother's ancestors were late-comers to the Southwest.

Damn. I screwed up again. That'll teach me to rest on my laurels, or at least get off my arse, walk over to the bookcase and get my facts straight. I plead a rough day at work in my defence. Interesting points made that the Anasazi were probably just absorbed into the local populace, hence the great mystery probably isn't that mysterious. So why didn't this occur to me? I've read similar claims made about classic Maya civilisations - 'scientists may mock but where did the Maya all vanish to?' At the time I thought well if they vanished, where the hell did all those Maya presently living in the Yucatan and Guatemala come from?
Must try to do more think stuff in future.
Stan asked:

What's wrong with mentioning language streams?

Nothing, but I worry that I might be trying to sound more authoritative than I really am. See above.

[Cognito]

So why didn't this occur to me? I've read similar claims made about classic Maya civilisations - 'scientists may mock but where did the Maya all vanish to?' At the time I thought well if they vanished, where the hell did all those Maya presently living in the Yucatan and Guatemala come from?

The Maya must not have realized that they vanished since they are all located in the same spot! However, there have been genetic adaptations to current culture ... the typical Mayan grandma wears a floral dress, is four feet tall and four feet wide ... shaped something like a bowling ball which gives her an enhanced ability to push and elbow her way to the front of any line.

[War Arrow]

Hmmm. I came across a few Tepoztecan grannies and at least one Tatahumara granny, although none of them were four foot wide. Nevertheless, they all had that face that nobody sane is ever going to get into an argument with - certainly not me, although one of them seemed impressed that I made the effort to raise my hat in a gentlemanly fashion. I didn't want to make her angry so it seemed like the right thing to do.

[stan]

BTW, the Native American population of the US
is estimated to be about 1.5 million.
More live off the reservations than on them.

[Cognito]

BTW, the Native American population of the US is estimated to be about 1.5 million.

If you want to read how many natives were living in the Americas prior to the European settlement (aka invasion aka genocide) start with Charles Mann's 1491. It is quite shocking!

[War Arrow]

BTW, the Native American population of the US
is estimated to be about 1.5 million.
More live off the reservations than on them.

That is shocking, particularly as the number of Nahuatl speakers alone in Mexico is the same
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/nahuatl.htm (although I'd heard it's getting closer to 2 million) - most of them are concentrated in the central Mexico area, which isn't really comparable to the whole US in terms of sheer size.
The Mann book is on my 'look out for it' list. The ones that did it for me were (as lazily copied from a bibliography in progress):
CAHN, E. S. & HEARNE, D. W. (Ed.) - [1969] Our Brother's Keeper: The Indian in White America, (New American Library, New York) 1975.
WRIGHT, R. - [1992] Stolen Continents: The Indian Story, (Pimlico, London) 1993.
The Cahn book deals with the present day (well, as of the 1970s) and actually goes almost beyond shocking into 'violently angry' territory.

Hmm. Third try at getting the URL to work.