Yeah, those are both good points; I brought out the quote as that's what the op's thought reminded me of, but the terminology is more appropriate to McCarthy's

Yeah, those are both good points; I brought out the quote as that's what the op's thought reminded me of, but the terminology is more appropriate to McCarthy's villain than the material world. That said, I am a little up the hill where it's wetter (and will hopefully remain so). If we stopped upkeep on the place I live, I am not confident that obvious traces of it would outlast the cliff dwellings at, say, Mesa Verde.