THE ANASAZI, NEW MEXICO

WHAT THE NAME MEANS

LOCATION

• They are most known in New Mexico
• They are also in Colorado, Utah, Arizona

TIME OF POWER

ECONOMY AND AGRICULTURE

• Raw materials for building houses, manufacturing clothing and tools, and growing crops were all locally made
• They relied on cultivated gardens for most of their food like corn and squash.
• they began to construct storage bins, lined with stones in order to protect their surplus food items.

ARCHITECTURE

• Pithouses were houses built over pits then covered with mud

RELIGION

• Anasazi were a group without writing
• their religious and spiritual beliefs have been passed down orally
• the Anasazi hold a strong belief in the Creator and good vs evil

GOVERNMENT

• The Anasazi built kivas, or round rooms dug into the ground.
• Kivas were used by the men of the tribe.
• In the Kivas they held secret religious ceremonies
• Men would set in the kivas and create laws and to discuss problems

LANGUAGE

• Tanoan languages (including Tewa and Tiwa) spoken at pueblos of the Rio Grande area.
• Keresan, spoken at Acoma, Laguna, and Santo Domingo Pueblos
• Zuni, a unique language isolate
• Hopi, which is related to Shoshonean and Ute

ART

• They pecked or painted a variety of images on the sandstone cliffs.
• some spirals may signify the sun's movement, or the passage of time.
• Other symbols may have been maps showing out the locations of springs, villages
• Animal figures may have played roles in rituals or prayers for successful hunting.