THE ANASAZI INDIANS

                         Read these facts about about the Anasazi culture:
  This North Anerican civilization started to develop around AD 100.
 These people lived in the area where the states of 
Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado meet.       
 The word Anasazi means "Ancient Ones".
 
Here is a blank map of the United States.

Here is a labeled map of the United States.


Can you figure out where the Anasazi lived?

                     Continue reading these facts about the Anasazi culture:
When these people first settled in this area they were already excellent basket weavers. 
They knew how to grow maize and pumpkins.
They were also hunters and gatherers.
They lived in caves or in shelters made of poles and adobe mud. 
The caves and the shelters had special pits with roofs that they used to store food.
   
 Later, agriculture (farming),  became their most important  concern. 
They became so good at farming in spite of the dryness of the area,  that they lived completely from      corn, squash, beans, and cotton that they grew.  
They also domesticated turkeys.
They began to build their houses above ground.
They could build permanent communities.
Very little hunting and gathering was done.
The caves and shelters became much more complicated.  They had joined rooms both
            above and below ground.
Above-ground rooms were used for storage.
They lived in the below-ground rooms (pit houses) and also used these rooms for ceremonies.
They began making sun-dried pottery.

Around the year AD 1000 they built their homes along the sides or under the overhangs of cliffs. 
They built apartments on many levels with no front doors or windows.
To enter these buildings, you had to climb ladders to the top and enter through doors in the roof.
They would then pull the ladders into the buildings, which would prevent people from the
            outside getting in.
Rooms in these homes measured 10 feet by 20 feet.
Because there were no doors and windows to the rooms on the ground floor,
            there was a solid outer stone.     
Ground floor rooms were only used for grain storage.
You could enter the other rooms on upper floors by using a ladder
            through a hole in the ceiling or through doorways.
We believe they were defending themselves against invasion by other Indian tribes.   
When the new Americans met the Indians and decided to conquer them,
            they did so by bringing their own ladders!
Each community had at least two kivas, ceremonial rooms, which women were not allowed to enter.
 
At the end of the 13th century (1200's), these cliff dwellings were deserted.
There may have been a very bad drought.
They may have been attacked.
They may have moved.
The mystery remains. 

Click the photograph below for a pictorial tour of the cliff dwellings and pueblos of these ancient people.

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