The AnasaziThe Anasazi((Ancient Pueblo People or Ancestral PuebloansAncient Pueblo People or Ancestral Puebloans))

““The Ancient Ones” or “Ancient Enemies”The Ancient Ones” or “Ancient Enemies” (Anasazi is the Navajo name, (Anasazi is the Navajo name, notnot what they call themselves.) what they call themselves.)

(They lived around 100 AD through 1100 - 1300 AD )(They lived around 100 AD through 1100 - 1300 AD )

Where they lived…Where they lived…

• In approximately 100 A. D., the Anasazi settled on a high plateau in an area much different than the rest of the Southwest. The plateau that they settled on was the Colorado Plateau. This large mountainous region encompasses the Four Corners area, as well as, other parts of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Note-taking DirectionsNote-taking Directions• Throughout their approximately 1000 year

history, the Anasazi effectively used and adapted their unique environment and its natural resources in order to survive.

• As you watch this PowerPoint, list examples of the ways they – Used natural resources to help them survive– Changed their environment to help them survive– Developed technologies to help them survive

Basketmaker Period 1-750 A. D.Basketmaker Period 1-750 A. D.

Housing Housing    • The early Anasazi

dug shallow depressions (pits) in the ground, covered them with a canopy of brush and mud to create their homes, called pit houses.

NOTES TAKING: Use of Natural Resources : Pit houses made of brush and mud

Changes to their environment: Dug pits to make housing

Basketmaker Period 1-750 A. D.  Basketmaker Period 1-750 A. D.   • The Anasazi used

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

NOTE TAKING: Use of natural resources: used grasses to make baskets

Technology: Basket making (good enough to carry water)

Basketmaker Period 1-750 A. D. Basketmaker Period 1-750 A. D. Farming: Farming: 

• At first they farmed small plots of land - raised corn, squash, and (later) beans

• They used dry farming and some flood irrigation. • 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.

• Over several hundred years, their agriculture advanced to the point that they could live and sustain themselves in permanent villages.

By 500 A.DBy 500 A.D

• Basketmakers had made several significant changes in their culture.

• Larger villages were being built with more storage bins, signifying increased yields of corn

• In addition to improved farming methods, the Anasazi trading range expanded.

Farming by 500 A.D.Farming by 500 A.D.

• Beans were being cultivated as a source of protein; however gathered pinion nuts, yucca fruit, berries, and hunted wild game were still a major part of the diet

• The Anasazi still hunted and gathered to supplement the cultivated crops of corn, squash, and beans Anasazi Beans (New Mexico Cave Bean)

Late Basketmakers PeriodLate Basketmakers Period• By this time, the Anasazi had

made considerable advances in technology. They stored food in storage bins, adopted the use of the bow and arrow, used improved farm methods such as flood irrigation, they domesticated turkeys, and made clay pottery

• Plain gray pottery, and occasionally black on white pottery, was being used as storage containers for the excess food.

Pueblo Phase 750-1300 A.D.Pueblo Phase 750-1300 A.D.

• Around 750 A.D., an elite group of "Ancestral Puebloans" started to build in Chaco Canyon. 

• Over the next two centuries (800-1000 A.D.), they spread across every arable (farmable) acre of the San Juan Basin.

• They built an elaborate road and trail system connecting the outlying villages with Chaco Canyon. They had over four hundred miles of mapped out road systems, but there is no evidence that they used the wheel. 

Pueblo BonitoPueblo Bonito • Pueblo Bonito is the

most famous of the Chaco Canyon great houses.

• These dwellings were built with huge blocks of sandstone. Workers shaped an estimated one million blocks of sandstone weighing some thirty thousand tons to construct Pueblo Bonito.

Details of Details of Pueblo BonitoPueblo Bonito

• Skillful architectural engineering was needed to build these cliff dwellings.

• At its peak, it had seven hundred or more rooms, thirty-seven family kivas, and two community kivas.

• It covered over 4 ½ acres • The workers hauled spruce and

fir timbers more than fifty miles to construct the floors and roofs.

• Adobe (dried mud bricks) were also used to build the cliff dwellings.

• Despite the obvious engineering ability of the Chacoans, there is no evidence that they used the wheel.

•Villages were built facing East to get morning sun for Villages were built facing East to get morning sun for warmth, and shade in the mid-day/afternoon heat.warmth, and shade in the mid-day/afternoon heat.

The Anasazi Disappear!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 #1-The Drought TheoryDrought 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 The Conflict TheoryConflict 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– Not enough bodies found for a mass killing. Wouldn’t have

carried off thousands of bodies of the warriors (plus wives and children) that were killed in battle.

• 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…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.