Which enabling innovation caused ancestral Puebloans in the southwestern US to cultivate drought-resistant maize in arid environments?

💡 Explanation

When ancestral Puebloans cultivated drought-resilient maize, waffle gardens concentrated rainfall flow because they capture and concentrate scarce rainwater near individual plants, increasing localised hydration. Therefore waffle gardens result, rather than terraces which redirect floodwaters, aqueducts focused on transport, or crop rotation focused solely on soil fertility.

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