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   ladyvols1 Teacher
   High School - 9th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   “The Anasazi, believed to be descendants of ancient Desert Archaic people, are one of the best-known prehistoric cultures of the American Southwest.”  The Anasazi region was across the southern Colorado Plateau to northeastern Arizona, Northwestern New Mexico, Southeastern Utah and Southwestern Colorado. The Anasazi were 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, farming became their focus.  They became so good at farming, in spite of the dryness of the area, that they lived completely on the corn, squash, beans, and cotton that they grew. They eventually began to build their houses above ground.  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.  By the end of the 13th century (1200s), these cliff dwellings were deserted. We don't really know what happened, there may have been a very bad drought, they may have been attacked, or they simply may have moved. The mystery remains. 

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/arch-encyclopedia/anasazi

   http://www.enotes.com/salem-history/anasazi-civilization-...

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   Posted by ladyvols1 on Tuesday December 16, 2008 at 8:13 PM