Anasazi

The Anasazi were a prehistoric Native American civilization (1000 B.C - 1400s) who lived in the Four Corners area of the southwestern United States. They are the ancestors of the modern Pueblo peoples. The word "Anasazi" is Navajo for "Ancient Ones" or "Ancient Enemy." The tribal legends of early Native Americans remember the Anasazi as fierce warriors.

This civilization is most famous for the adobe (mud brick) and sandstone dwellings that they built within cliff walls, such as those preserved in Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde National Park, and Canyon De Chelly National Monument. These villages, called pueblos by Mexican settlers, were often only accessible by rope or through rock climbing.

They also left behind a lot of petroglyphs and pictographs.

The Anasazi disappeared for as yet undetermined reasons. Many have speculated that a change in local climate and resulting agricultural failures may be the reason.