Travel back in time a thousand years ago with the Anasazi Indians. They were born around the time Christ came. A couple of thousand years later they disappeared. Their disappearance is unsolved.
The Anasazi Indians lived in a lot of places including the Western U.S. They ate corn, squash and beans. These Indians also ate small game.They lived in cliffs and on land. Now they are very well known for their mysterious extinction.
The women of the tribe made clay bowls, then they decorated them with geometric designs. The women also used plants to weave baskets. The men made cotton blankets and clothing. The women dyed the cotton with orange, yellow, red, green and black dyes made from plants. Some people made sashes from cocoons.
The main culture of the Anasazi was centered at Chaco Canyon. The Anasazi built roads reaching 9 meters across and 300 kilometers stretching to other cities. These Indians built sacred meeting places where they celebrated their rites.Chaco Canyon was probably their capital, and more ruins have been found. These Indians had very insulating homes from the heat because they were built in the sides of cool cliffs.
The Atapasca, Navajos, and Apache Indians were raiding the land. This forced the Anasazi to make their homes in rocks.They carved villages in the sides of cliffs and lived there. One place you can still see their homes is at Mesa Verde National Park. Around 1125 in the Chaco area where the Anasazis lived, there was a horrible famine.This forced people to move northward to the Aztec Ruins, Solomon Ruins and many other places in New Mexico. Things were difficult here so the families migrated again.They migrated to a place called Casas Grandes in Mexico, more than 620 km. south of Chaco Canyon.
The Anasazi were a different tribe for their ways of living. They were a mysterious tribe for their disappearance. The Anasazi were very interesting people for their homes . People do not know why or how they disappeared.