“Anasazi Culture: North American civilization that developed from c.AD 100 to historic times, centering on the area where the boundaries of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah intersect. Anasazi (Navajo for “Ancient Ones”) is used to refer to the ancestors of contemporary Pueblo Indian peoples. Anasazi civilization is customarily divided into five periods: Basketmaker (AD 100-500), Modified Basketmaker (500-700), Developmental Pueblo (700-1050), Classic Pueblo (1050-1300), and Regressive Pueblo (1300-1550). As among present-day Pueblo peoples, religion was highly developed and centered on rites partly conducted in underground circular chambers called kivas. The best-known Anasazi ruins are the great cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde (Colorado) and Chaco Canyon (New Mexico).”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
Mark's Text Terminal 