"Man corn", warfare and atlatls were not the only interesting aspects of the Anasazi culture. The history and lifestyles of the Ancestral Puebloans may have contributed to their mysterious disappearance. Their societies were more complex than most humans realize.

The Anasazi, or to be politically correct, the Ancestral Puebloans, traveled to the Southwest from Mexico around 100 A.D. (Southwest Indian Relief Council, 2001). The word "Anasazi" originated from the Navajo word that translates to "ancestral enemies." The name was changed from Anasazi to Ancestral Puebloans so that their ancestors today do not take offense to the history of the people in their past.

The Anasazi were known to be a nomadic people. They generally moved around until they found the perfect land for farming. This perfect land happened to be scattered across the southwest portion of the United States, mostly in the Four-Corner region of Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico (SWIRC, 2001).

Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon and Hovenweep were some of the most attractive places for these nomadic farmers to settle down. Mesa Verde provided the Anasazi with a high plateau full of canyons, caves and "Cliff Palaces." Chaco Canyon served as the center for all Anasazi activity. Hovenweep contained many cliff dwellings, perfect for a thriving, but remote Anasazi site.

The Anasazi Indians developed their farming methods gradually once they found the perfect homelands. They would grow and eat corn, squash, pinon nuts, fruits and berries. Once the corn was fully-grown, the Anasazi women ground the corn with ametate and a mano. The metate is a "flat stone receptacle" and the mano is a "hand-held stone" (Ferguson, 1996).

For protein, wild game such as deer, elk, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, turkeys, and various other small game were consumed. Their game meat was killed using either a snare, net, bow and arrow, or an atlatl (Ferguson, 1996). An atlatl consisted of a throwing stick with a separate dart, it functioned almost the same as a bow and arrow does (Roberts, 1996).

The Anasazi have been characterized into two categories: Basketmakers and Pueblo. The Basketmaker people were then divided into subcategories: Basketmaker II and Basketmaker III. The Pueblo however, were categorized into four subcategories: Pueblo I, Pueblo II, Pueblo III, and Pueblo IV. The people remained the same, only little things in their society changed (Roberts, 1996).

The early Basketmakers are known for their yucca-leaf woven baskets. These baskets were so tightly woven that water was stored in them regularly. They used yucca leaves for medicinal purposes and made sandals out of the yucca leaves as well. They lived in caves and on rock ledges, but they soon began building pithouses to store food. They made their tools and hunting gear out of bones and stones (Ferguson, 1996).

By the late Basketmaker time, pottery was replacing yucca baskets, and the bow and arrow was replacing the atlatl. The lifestyles of the Basketmakers changed slightly as they evolved into the Pueblo period.

By A.D. 700, the Anasazi people were categorized as Pueblo (Ferguson, 1996). The Pueblo people built great kivas and used simple black-on-white pottery. By the Pueblo II times, "Great Houses" and more great kivas were built. Their pottery became slightly more elaborate with intricate designs and vibrant colors. From A.D. 1150 to 1350, Pueblo III Anasazi lived in cliff dwellings and large villages such as Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon. It was during this time that the Anasazis mysteriously moved (Roberts, 1996).

The great kivas and cliff dwellings mentioned above are just two of the types of architecture the Anasazi used. Pithouses, which were constructed during the Basketmaker times, were either half way, or totally underground. They served as storage units for food, and sometimes shelter during storms (Ferguson, 1996).

During the Pueblo times, kivas were also built. Here, Anasazi families would gather and worship. Since kivas were underground, a ladder was placed through a large hole in the roof. The kivas consisted of a fire pit, a small hole used for ventilation, and a small "sipapu." A sipapu is a "small sacred hole in the floor near the center. . . [where Anasazi] ancestors [were believed to come] from." (Ferguson, 1996) Great kivas served almost the same purpose; the dimensions were just increased.

The dwellings that were found were built as single or multistory rooms. These villages were used for family housing and food storage. Great houses were designed like a house of today, excluding the bathrooms, but including kivas of all sizes (Ferguson, 1996).

All of the Anasazi dwellings were built using blocks of sandstone, held together with adobe mud. To support the ceilings, large tree trunks were used. Whole villages were built, similar to Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon. Since Chaco Canyon was the center for all Anasazi activity, "an interlocking system of roadways . . . four hundred miles in length, radiat[es] outward from Chaco Canyon" (Roberts, 1996). These roadways were generally thirty feet wide, and built in straight lines, ignoring the natural curve of the earth's surface. These roads are believed by some scientists to have served as "routes for ceremonial pilgrimages to Chaco" (Roberts, 1996). Other archaeologists believe that Anasazi armies patrolled these roads daily protecting their civilizations from intruders (Roberts, 1996).

Some of the ceremonial pilgrimages the Anasazi Indians participated in were rain, fertility, and crop dances. These dances were taught to the people by the Kachinas. Kachinas are "any of several hundred supernatural beings in Pueblo religion, intercessors between the people and their gods, bringers of rain, fertility, and health" (Roberts, 1996). Kachinas would come from the ground, or spirit world, through the sipapus in the kivas (Ferguson, 1996). The Anasazi were very intrigued by the movement of the sun and the moon from the winter to the summer months. All of the rituals were based on this movement. For the Anasazi, the rituals provided when life and death would occur within their society (Ferguson, 1996).

Archaeologists believe that the Anasazi might have been cannibals when their civilizations were at their peak. Christy Turner, an anthropologist at Arizona State University developed a list of criteria to determine if cannibalism was a normal practice in Anasazi culture. His list, called the "Cannibal's Signature," includes finding evidence such as stone-tool cut marks, skull fractures, marrow exposing bone breaks, discoloration due to burning, and pot polish. Pot polish is "a beveling and buffing of bone edges - - particularly splintered ends of limb bones and ribs- attributed to boiling in ceramic vessels" (Bower, 1993).

Seventy-six different sites were tested against Turner's list. Out of the seventy-six, thirty-eight of the sites provided the archaeologist with evidence of cannibalism (Hartigan, July, 2000). The bones, however, "remained mute about whether ritualistic or systematic consumption of human flesh took place" (Bower, 1993).

Turner concluded that the Anasazi were the only society that sacraficed its dead and prepared its food the same way: by boiling them. However, eating flesh was one of the worst things an Ancestral Puebloan could possibly do. Eating flesh meant taking on the characteristics of a witch; the retribution for being a witch was death. The survivors of the so-called witch would then destroy the body trying to find the evil spirit within the witch (Hartigan, July, 2000).

Evidence has been found at eighteen sites throughout the Southwest that suggests that heads of the deceased were cracked open and roasted over an open flame. Turner states, "Cannibalism occurred in the Southwest. There are more than forty Anasazi sites . . . with the cannibalism signature" (Bower, 1993). In some societies, eating people or animals is thought to bring the consumer the powers of their meal.

Even with this evidence, there are still a few skeptic scientists. Many argue that no researcher living today has ever witnessed cannibalism. They also state that if there even were men eating men, also called "man corn," it was probably because of a food shortage. Archaeologist Peter Y. Bullock claims that "Cannibalism may have occurred among the Anasazi, but there is no scientifically valid way to test for it" (Bower, 1993).

Even more mysterious than ancient cannibalism is the abrupt disappearance of all the Anasazi civilizations in the Four Corners region. Around A.D. 1300, the Southwest region of the United States was abandoned. Many different theories attempt to explain the phenonomen, however, none have proved to be one hundred percent correct.

One of the most commonly discussed explanations is drought. Tree ring dating, or Dendrochronology, proves that a severe drought occurred during the years between A.D. 1275 and 1300 (Cordell, 1994). Many scientists support this explanation because there is hard evidence. On the other hand, it has also been proved that droughts had occurred many times before A.D. 1275. Opponents to this theory say that "people who lived in the Four Corners in 1275 could have remained and thrived" (Lekson, 2001).

Along with drought, severe weather could have influenced the migration of the Anasazi as well. Since the Anasazi had evolved into successful farmers, any form of bad weather would discourage the productivity of crops in the Southwest (Lekson, 2001).

Erosion, or arroyo cutting, is another possible explanation. Arroyo cutting would reduce the amount of farmable land for the Anasazi. Stone check dams have been found scattered across the Southwest, probably constructed by the Anasazi to protect their precious farmlands. These dams prove to be worthy of their name today, so they must have worked when they were first built. This would prove that the Anasazi were intelligent enough to solve their economic problems (Noble, 1985).

Many archaeologists believe that warfare was the most reasonable theory for abandonment. This warfare is thought to be with either invading enemy tribes, or other Anasazi (Cordell, 1994). The Ute and Navajo Indians, who were thought to be the enemy tribes, were not in the Southwest region during the time period of the abandonment. Many suggest that Numic-speaking Indians were to blame for the warfare (Torres, 2003).

A discouraging fact to upset this theory is that "physical evidence of conflict, such as burned village, or skeletons bearing mortal wounds, is lacking" (Cordell, 1994).

Another point is that "any culture wishing to inhabit the region would have had to have developed considerable agricultural skills, to be able to farm the arid land" (Pueblo Indian, 2002). Most Anasazi villages were built with the paranoia of an attack on the minds of the architects (Pueblo Indian, 2002).

Of course disease, malnutrition and differences in population are theories as well. Bones found at Anasazi sites have proven positive for porotic hyperostosis. The bones with this condition generally have a spongy-like texture, and appear to have large holes throughout the sample. Porotic hypertosis is caused by malnutrition (Cordell, 1994).

During the time period of the abandonment, Anasazi pueblos became very populated. This resulted in more unsanitary situations, which may have been the cause of many diseases. Once the Anasazi were plagued with disease, the birth rate dropped dramatically . Some researchers believe that this caused depression throughout the villages, causing the people to migrate (Noble, 1385).

Still others believe that the system of roads connecting almost all of the Anasazi sites was to blame for the abandonment. They feel the Anasazi "may have abandoned [the Four Corners region] because of failure of the system - overextended lines of trade" (Williams, 1991).

The most popular belief archaeologists agree on today is the Kachina Phenomenon. This might not have pushed the Anasazi away from the Four Corners; rather, it might have pulled them away (Lekson, 2001).

Some of these theories do relate to the lifestyles of the Anasazi; either in few ways, or many. For example, the Anasazi are known for their expertise in farming. The drought of 1275 could have left their crop fields dry and barren. The Anasazi's may have

needed to be able to farm to live. Farming was their way of life, so if something such as a drought stood in their way, what would have kept them in the Four Corners area?

The Anasazi were also very wary of their surroundings. Some scientists might say they were paranoid of other Indian tribes attacking them. They built their dwellings in places where nature could protect them from enemies. This would explain the warfare theory. The Anasazi might have felt challenged at some point by other societies, so they could have just backed away and migrated further south.

Although all of these explanations might be true, some archaeologists believe that "a combination of factors, including some of those traditionally given, was responsible" (Noble, 1985).

The ancestors of the Anasazi people are still searching for the answer to the question "What happened to these people?" The truth of the abandonment may never be known. The secrets and true history of this ancient culture may be forever stored in an underground kiva remaining always a mystery.

Bower, B. (1993, January). The cannibal's signature. Science News, 12.

Bureau of Land Management, Colorado. (2000, November). The ancestral puebloans (Anasazi). Retrieved March 11, 2003, from http://www.co.blm.gov/ahc/anasazi.htm#What

Cordell, L.S. (1994). Ancient pueblo peoples. Pgs. 130-132. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Books.

Ferguson, W.M. (1996). The Anasazi of mesa verde and the four corners. pgs. 3-4, 6-13, 15. Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado.

Hartigan, R. (2000, July). Dying for dinner? U.S. News and World Report, 50-51.

Hartigan, R. (2000, September). Unsavory ancient menu. U.S. News and World Report, 70.

History of the Anasazi. What happened to the Anasazi? Retrieved March 12, 2003, from http://www.svsinc.com/~spsvs/outdoors/anasazi/history.html

History of the Anasazi. Who are the Anasazi? Retrieved March 12, 2003, from http://www.svsinc.com/~spsvs/outdoors/anasazi/history.html

Lekson, S. H. (2001, September/October). Flight of the Anasazi. Archaeology, 44

Noble, D. G. (1985). Understanding the Anasazi of mesa verde and hovenweep. Pgs. 35-37. Santa Fe: Ancient City Press.

Pueblo Indian. (2002, April). History of the pueblo indians (cont.). Retrieved March 12, 2003, from http://www.puebloindian.com/pueblo_history_003.htm

Roberts, D. (1996). In search of the old ones. Pgs. 13, 31. New York: Touchstone.

Southwest Indian Relief Council. (2001, July). Southwest indian history: 300 B. C.: Anasazi. Retrieved March 11, 2003, from http://www.swirc.org/history/anasazi.html

S. P. (2002, September). Could the Anasazi have stayed? Science News, 174.

Torres, N. & Stuart, S. Anasazi indians. Retrieved March 12, 2003, from http://www.crystalinks.com/anasazi.html

Williams, S. (1991). Fantastic archaeology. Pgs. 339-340. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

I chose to write my 10 page paper on the Anasazi Indians. Once again, I was inspired by Mr. Schelle. He suggested to me that I do it on something in the Southwest because I am going to be exploring the Southwest with him for another class. This suggestion helped a lot. I was having to read 3 books about the Southwest, and one of them happened to be all about the Anasazi. In a sense, I was killing two birds with one stone. Anyway, from the beginning, I wasn't quite sure exactly what my thesis was going to be, so I just researched almost everything about them. It seemed like I had so much information, but when I began writing the actual paper, it didn't seem like there was enough information to even get 5 pages, much less 10. Once all of my research was done, I found it fairly easy to write. I think that my topic was very interesting, and I had a lot of help from my sister who is an archaeologist. I turned my paper in about 3 days before it was due, so I am really hoping that I get a good grade!