Near the beginning of the 13th century, a drought most notable in the written history of the region struck the Great Plains. As rain showers long dried up and crops withered in the fields, hunters and horticulturists living along the streams of what is now western Nebraska and Kansas abandoned their small cabins in the central fields and moved east. Behind them incessant winds covered the abandoned cities with 10-20 layers of fine loess, a silent declaration of the severity of climate change that forced the tenants away (Baerreis and Bryson). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The dry season was an ecological fiasco. It sent various peoples off their lands, renewed the social and political topography of the camps, and, incidentally, expanded fighting between groups vying for the now scarce resources of available land. When already isolated societies met, shared and fought; archaeologists have demonstrated that individuals exchanged different material systems, objects, and presumably beliefs. However, what is surprising is how little these societies have reacted especially to the dry season. Any power that brought about large-scale movements and social contacts may have needed to create changes generally similar to those brought about by the drought. Simply put, areas of the general population changed, not its trends. The Pawnee started from the rural homesteaders of the Central Plains. Horticulturalists had re-established themselves along the River Loup in the 15th century, when the atmosphere of the fields improved. Archaeologists, following the development of artistic projects and other social correlations, concluded that these returning ranchers, the general population of the Loup Focus, were the predecessors of the Pawnee. The exact ancestry of the Pawnees from these individuals is unclear (Weltfish 8). The essential division of the country into the Skidis on one point of view and the Southern Bands (the Grands [Tsawi or Chaui], the Republicans [Kitkehaxhi] and the Tapages [Pitahawirats]) on the other is antiquated. The Pawnee vouched that this division preceded the country itself. The Skidi attested to a unique family relationship with the Arikara, who lived further north on the Missouri River, while the South Band claimed that they were once the Kawarahki, a reclusive group that had moved north with the Wichita (Dunbar 261). By the mid-16th century the underlying developments in the Loup Valley had ended and the constituent parts of the Pawnee had built up near the river. The Skidi owned a series of towns near Beaver Creek, while the Kawarahki settled near Shell Creek (James 141). By the mid-17th century the Kawarahki had expanded southwest and built their cities on the south bank of the Platte, while the Skidi remained on the Loup. Each of these towns, especially those on Beaver Creek, secured sizable tracts, comprising 10 to 100 acres of land. Their builders found them on the ridges with an eye to resistance and in a couple of cases strengthened the cities with dividers and trenches. Edwin James, who traversed the territory on the Long Quest of 1820, also included antiquated remains of extensive forts in the Beaver Creek region near the center of the Skidi towns (141). Despite signs of warfare, the two centuries following Pawnee settlement on the Loup and Platte appear to have been, by and large, prosperous and productive. The Lower Loup Focus sites are recognizable by their large areas as well as the number and size of storage pits (Strong 273). The city's economy appears to have produced surpluses.