The Anasazi (Ancient Pueblo People) “The Ancient Ones” Anasazi is the Navajo name, not what they call themselves. (They lived around 100 AD through 1300 AD ) Anasazi is a Navajo term for Ancient Ones or Ancient Enemies—Modern Puebloans DO NOT prefer to use this term when referring to their ancestry.

Where they lived… In approximately 100 A. D., the Anasazi settled in the cliffs in what is now the Southwest United States. Those cliffs that they settled on are part of the Four Corners area -Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. They are known as The Cliff Dwellers.

Housing   The Anasazi made their homes in the cliffs.

Ladders could be easily removed if under attack. Many cliff dwellings were made from handmade blocks. The blocks were held together with adobe, or dried mud. Large beams were used for the ceiling. Branches and adobe were then placed on the beams. Rooms on the same floors of the buildings were connected by doorways. Floors were connected by ladders placed through holes in the ceilings. Ladders could be easily removed if under attack.   These were permanent dwellings – the Anasazi didn’t move around. Scott Foresman: Building a Nation. Glenview, Illinois: Pearson Educators, Inc., 2005. Print.

The main reason for building houses in cliffs were for protection from bad weather and attacks from the enemy.

Artisans The Anasazi were very skilled at making pottery. Plain gray pottery, and occasionally black on white pottery, was used as storage containers for the excess food.

The Anasazi used grasses to make baskets, they used these as storage and carrying containers; some were woven tight enough to hold water.

Farming and Food  They farmed small plots of land - raised corn, squash, and (later) beans. They developed early irrigation systems. The introduction of corn allowed the Anasazi to settle down in one area. They planted crops, then while the crops were growing, the people resumed hunting and gathering wild plants and animals.

Religion The Anasazi were very religious. The men held religious ceremonies in kivas – round rooms dug in the ground. Anasazi priests were very important in the Anasazi society. They conducted the ceremonies to honor the gods.

The Anasazi Disappear! The Anasazi Indians left the cliff dwellings. No one truly knows why… Possible reasons: The Drought Theory The Conflict Theory

#1-The Drought Theory THEORY: Around 1100 AD, there were great droughts in the area where the Anasazi lived. (This period of drought may have lasted several hundred years!) These droughts either killed off the entire population or drove them to migrate out of the region. Problems with the Theory: Doesn’t make sense that thousands of Anasazi left their homes without taking tools or food. Not enough bones are left to account for all of them dying. If they moved, where did their culture go? There aren’t people with their appearance, art, culture, and religion in a new area .

The Conflict Theory THEORY: Another great tribe may have attacked the Anasazi, and killed off their entire population that was scattered over several modern-day states. Problems with Theory: No signs of battles large enough to destroy whole nation. The winners did not loot and destroy the cities of the conquered people. They did not disturb burial grounds and the bodies that were buried inside the cities No evidence of a war that drove the Anasazi to extinction has ever been discovered. The cities show no sign of a siege and mass graves have never been unearthed.

Gone but not Forgotten… The Anasazi Indians have piqued the curiosity of countless researchers. A lot has been learned about this tribe, but there are many mysteries remaining.