The Ancestral Puebloans often chose south-facing alcoves like this one for their cliff villages because they offered the basic necessities of life: winter sun and summer shade, shelter from the elements, springwater for drinking and cooking, nearby animals to hunt, plants to gather, and open streamside lands to farm. The Puebloans grew cotton with dry-land and irrigated farming techniques in a climate much like today, domesticated turkeys and dogs, and used everything the land provided, including pinyon pine, prickly pear cactus, ricegrass, and sunflowers. Archaeologists discovered the remains of 400 different plants in Talastima/Betatakin, showing how well the people knew this land. Tree-ring dating shows that a 20-year drought ended about 1300, and for farmers with a close relationship to rain and the land, this was a message that it was time to move on in their life journey, migrating to find the spiritual center of the world. The people left this place intact, storing food and supplies for their future return, and Hopi oral history says this sacred site is not abandoned: the builders are still here with us.