However, they never lost their essential culture or architectural style. Whatever the cause, by the 15th century, the Anasazis had split into various smaller tribes, prompting the Spanish to call then the Pueblo Indians because they lived in villages. War and disease are usual candidates for civilization decline, but a 13th century drought in the arid Southwest may have contributed to their disappearance. īeginning in the 13th century, the Anasazi culture began to decline and the people slowly abandoned their large complexes. The boy would later be brought back as a teenager and the episode would repeat itself only this time, after the whipping, the masked man would reveal himself as the village shaman and the boy would then whip the shaman. He would then be let go with a strong warning to never tell anyone what had happened. A young boy would be brought into the kiva where he would be confronted with a man in a mask, who would whip him to expunge the evil from him. One of their ceremonies consisted of a type of initiation into manhood. In the middle of the room was a hole in the ground, which represented the gateway to the underworld. An essential part of their building complexes were kivas, which were round, underground rooms used for religious and ceremonial purposes. The need for rain and good harvests prompted the Puebloans to be extremely devout and ritualistic. Their staple crops that they grew in abundance were squash, beans, and corn. Although the soil was not especially conducive to agriculture, the Puebloans had learned to make the most of it through the advantage of a settled permanent lifestyle.
This level of cultural success - as with all cultural advances - came about because of a food surplus. This allowed the easy flow of people from one dwelling to the next without having to go outside, which was especially helpful during bad weather or an enemy attack. Their buildings were massive apartment complexes built congruously, sometimes four stories high and - depending on the size of the village - could contain anywhere from 20 to a 1,000 rooms. The Chaco Canyon settlement was the most impressive and may have had as many as eight thousand people at its zenith. The word Anasazi is from a Navajo word meaning “old peoples.” The Anasazis lived at first in caves, but as time went by, they began building large communities in valleys, on mesa tops, and in cliff walls, some of which are in what is now Mesa Verde, CO, Kayenta, AZ, and Chaco Canyon, NM. The AnasazisĪround 200 A.D., the Anasazi culture began to develop in what is today considered the four corners region, marking the convergence of the states of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. They included the Anasazi (Pueblos), the Hohokams, the Yumans, and the Athapascans - who include the Navajo and Apache. In this article, I’ll cover the four main ethnicities of Indians who inhabited the Southwest in the period immediately before European discovery. Most of the pre-Columbian tribes have survived in the same region and have preserved many of the cultural traits of those pre-Columbian societies whom the Spanish encountered.The Spanish passed through the region in the 16th century, leaving detailed accounts of the people they encountered 300 years before the U.S.The arid nature of the land has made it vulnerable to erosion, exposing a wealth of Indian artifacts.The pre-Columbian history of the southwestern United States has been easier to trace than pre-columbian history of other regions for three reasons.
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