Anasazi
Anasazi [CP].A regional cultural grouping of peoples living along the Arizona–Utah borderlands of the USA, emerging within the Basketmaker Phase defined in the prehistory of the southwestern part of North America. Dating to c.AD 400–1300, the Anasazi tradition is the largest cultural grouping of the period and covers the northwestern quarter of New Mexico, much of southwestern and western Colorado, the northern half of Arizona, and most of Utah: an area known as the ‘Four Corners’. Much of this area has inadequate rainfall for the size of populations involved and some basic irrigation measures were used, although not extensively. Alongside agriculture, hunting and the collecting of wild foodstuffs was also practised. Ceremonial centres near the settlements remained important. Exchange links with Mississippian Cultures are evident from, among other things, similarities in the form of some ceramic containers. The distinctive characteristics of...
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