The airy settlement that we explored had been built by the Anasazi, a civilization that arose as early as 1500 B.C. Their descendants are today’s Pueblo Indians, such as the Hopi and the Zuni, who live in 20 communities along the Rio Grande, in New Mexico, and in northern Arizona.

There was probably more than one reason the Pueblo people left the Mesa Verde region in the late A.D. 1200s. Archaeologists think the environment changed in ways that made it difficult to grow corn. Eventually, the Pueblo people of the Mesa Verde region decided to migrate south, where the rains were more reliable.

At first the Anasazi built pit houses partly underground. The sides and roofs were made of wood poles covered with brush and mud. They were like large apartment houses made of stone or adobe bricks, Adobe is made by mixing mud and straw and baking the bricks in the sun.

The religion of the Anasazi people was based on their belief of Earth, not only the source of their food and protection, but also as a sacred place connecting them to a Great Spirit.

The Anasazi built their dwellings under overhanging cliffs to protect them from the elements. Using blocks of sandstone and a mud mortar, the tribe crafted some of the world’s longest standing structures.

The foraging ancestors of the Anasazi were nomads. For food they killed small animals, using spear and atlatl. They also harvested wild plants. The Anasazi often sun dried their vegetables.

The Anasazi people used spears and other tools to kill wild game such as rabbits, bison, prairie dogs, antelope, elk, and deer. Seeds and corn were often ground into meal, and nuts were ground into a paste.

Because they lived in the desert, they had very little rainfall. When it did rain, the Anasazi would store their water in ditches. They built gates at the end of the ditches that could be raised and lowered to let water out. They used this to water their crops in the field.

In addition to the drought and marauding enemy theories, scientists suggest that things like poor sanitation, pests, and environmental degradation may have caused the Anasazi to move.

What did the Anasazi, Hopewell, and Mississippian have in common? Complex cultures, religious beliefs, agriculture, adaptations. Why did subarctic people live in different types of houses at different times ?

They traded ancient Turquoise for Parrots, Seashells and other trade items brought from Mexico and California by nomadic trade groups. The Anasazi owned Turquoise and copper mines that gave them valuable goods for trade. The Anasazi Indians also mined Turquoise for trade.

The Anasazi people built three different styles of houses – the pueblos, the cliff house, the cave house. Some of the Anasazi Houses were built against the base of the cliff and positioned in such a way that they were part of one great building complex.

The Anasazi speak Tanoan, Acoma, Zuni, and Navajo. They communicate with their people beyond language is called far-reach.

Archeologists think that the Mogollon might have acted as traders between people to the north and south of them. They might have traded turquoise for copper and macaw feathers. These items could have been used for decoration or for religious ceremonies.

The Mogollon Rim divides the state geologically, culturally, physically, ecologically. Caused by a stretching and thinning of the crust in the past 30 million years, the Rim divides the quiet, layered highlands from the jumbled, active lowlands — pine forest from saguaro desert.

A murder hole or meurtrière is a hole in the ceiling of a gateway or passageway in a fortification through which the defenders could fire, throw or pour harmful substances or objects such as rocks, arrows, scalding water, hot sand, quicklime, tar, or boiling oil, down on attackers.