Anasazi

Presentation

The word “anasazi”

One is unaware of, for lack of old texts, by which name Anasazis indicated themselves. This civilization having disappeared before the arrival from Europeans in America, one uses since the years 1950 the word “Anasazi”, meaning “the old ones” or “former enemies” in language Navajo to indicate all the cultures living in Pueblos. When the word “Anasazi” was proposed, the significance “former enemy” was apparently not known. As for the historical Pueblos, their name comes from Spanish “village”, because the Conquistadores had been struck by the architecture of their communities. The Indians Hopis use the word “Hisatsinom” simply meaning rather “former inhabitants” in their own language than that of Anasazi, judged too pejorative to designate its own ancestors. Lastly, one should not confuse the similar culture “Anasazi” and cultures which lived in the same area: the Hohokam S, the Mogollon S and the Patayan S, of the people which have all disappeared before the 16th century.

Sources

One has several types of sources to reconstitute the civilization of Anasazis:

traditional accounts of the Amerindian pueblos, which are transmitted to the oral examination since generations. The craft industry and the beliefs of the descendants of Anasazis make it possible to formulate a certain number of serious assumptions.
testimonys of the Conquistador be Spanish which explore the area as from the 16th century. Most important of these forwardings is that of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado which had left to seek the “gold cities” of Quivira and Cíbola. The chronicles and the letters sent by the explorers are an invaluable source of information, with the proviso of taking them with precaution. At the end of the 19th century, the farmer Charley Mason and the Wetherill brothers discover the principal sites anasazis.
the archaeological excavations really begin with the Swedish Gustaf Nordenskiöld (1868-1895). The arid climate of the area allowed the good conservation of thousands of objects out of vegetable fibers (Atlatl of wood, arrows in Roseau, cotton fabrics) or animal (tendons, leathers). In the same way, the dry medium preserved several skeletons which were studied by the Anthropologue S and which give information on health, the food and the morphology of Anasazis.

Chronology

General context

According to the last theories formulated by the researchers, the settlement of the American continent goes back to at least 20 000 years. Paléoindiens are sedentarized in the South-west of the North America there is approximately 12 000 years. The prehistorians exhumed the tools lithic of this population on famous the Site of Clovis. It drove out large animals which died out quickly (Mammouth S…). After the last Glaciation (Glaciation of Wisconsin), the climate became hotter and dry. In Central America, the Olmèque S practiced the culture of corn as of They were supplanted thereafter by the civilization of Teotihuacán whereas followed one another, in the remainder of Mexico, the Zapotèque S (Oaxaca) and finally the Aztèque S, contemporaries of the apogee of the culture anasazie. With the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores at the 16th century, the Amerindian cultures knew radical changes. The great empires died out, whereas the Indians pueblos had already replaced Anasazis.

Périodisation for the culture anasazie

The history of these people remains enigmatic, for lack of written sources. Work of the archeologists makes it possible nevertheless to foresee several chronological phases, whose dates are approximate: the area of the south-west of the United States initially was occupied by the people of the tradition Sohara (v. 5500 av. J. - C. - v. 400 a. J. - C.). Anasazis succeed 8th century a. J. - C. with the Basketmaker S, the “basket makers”, established in these mountainous and semi-arid territories some time before the Christian era. The progressive sedentarisation of these hunters-gatherers, related to the development of the Agriculture, leads to the emergence of a new culture known as of Pueblo, in reference to the villages made up of ground brick houses that Anasazis of the Mesa Verde install with the shelter of cliffs of the large canyons of a broken and green area located in the middle of the desert of the Colorado. The beginnings (period Pueblo I, from 700 to 900) are characterized by small houses isolated and the appearance of the culture from the Coton. If the period Pueblo II (from 900 to 1100) mark a Apogee which appears by an enrichment of the ornaments, Pueblo III (of 1100 to 1300) knows a repression of various Anasazis in only the Mesa Verde and the return to a habitat troglodytic rudimentary.

As from 1300, Anasazis take refuge in the valley of the Río Grande and in the center of the Arizona. One ends up losing their trace before the arrival of Europeans. The causes of this Exode remain mysterious: a Climate change did it touch harvests? Was the environment suddenly degraded (Déforestation, lack of cultivable grounds)? Did the demographic pressure become too strong (overpopulation)? Did problems of a political nature appear? Did wars ruin the area? In the absence of written documents and in the state of current knowledge, it is difficult to answer these questions.

Anasazis with their apogee (1000 - 1300 a. J. - C.)

Situation and natural environment

The archeologists found vestiges of this culture in four American states: Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. As these states are touched by a corner, one indicates this area under the English name of Four Corners (area of the “Four Corners”). If the landscapes of these regions are imposing, the natural conditions make the life difficult: the Aridity mark majority of spaces, which take a desert aspect (Désert of Sonora) or semi desert. The two larger rivers run north towards the south and are the Río Grande and the Colorado which is thrown in the Gulf of California. The Arroyo S are temporary rivers which fill with the least storm. However, Anasazis can use the natural resources and respect the balance of the environment. They gather for example the sheets of the Yucca to braid them. They control the agricultural techniques, the Irrigation and adapted to the constraints of the medium. The products which they do not find on the spot are imported of other areas.

Then, altitude is another constraint. The winters are cold and snow can cover the ground. The variation of the temperatures between the winter and the summer is important. In the east, the Rocky Mountains culminate with more 4 000 meters above the sea level. The surface of the culture anasazie extends on tops plates (Plateau of Colorado), traversed by rivers which run in steepsided valleys. The inhabitants were especially installed on the mesa , term Spanish meaning “table”, of the rock plates swept by the winds. The Géologie of the area is rather complex but offers all kinds of materials since the sandstone to the rocks of ic origin Volcan. The flora and fauna depend on the nature of the ground, precipitations and altitude.

Close cultures

See the articles detailed for each culture.

Anasazis were in contact with other close Amerindian cultures (see the chart): the Hohokam S and the Mogollon S are most known. They divided many common features with Anasazis, so much so that certain historians gather them in the same category: irrigated agriculture, drives out, villages in adobe, bricks or stone, decorated pottery, commercial relations with the Mesoamerica. But it is known that Hohokams incinerated their deaths and that Mogollons practiced hunting more agriculture.

Villages now abandoned

Archeology makes known to us a large variety of houses and villages anasazis. The oldest dwellings were quite modest: they were primitive small houses, each one enough large to place a family. They were arranged in not very deep foundations ( house-well ). Their roof was covered with ground and branches. The hearth was in the center. These primitive dwellings gathered with the favor of the population growth to form hamlets. This growth of the villages expresses a collective organization more or less conscious of space. As from the 10th century, these villages could shelter several hundreds of inhabitants. They chose sites of plate (Chaco Canyon 950-1100) or shelters natural (cliffs of Mesa Verde 1100-1300).

Anasazis could choose exceptional natural sites to settle: several villages thus sheltered under imposing cliffs at the 13th century. Dug in the walls of gigantic canyons, the troglodytic dwellings always attract the curiosity of the tourists. This type of habitat had the advantage of offering a protection against the rain or snow. The orientation of the villages preserved the community of the cold in winter and the heat wave in summer. Moreover, of such sites constituted a natural rampart against possible attacks. On the other hand, the fields were further away from the dwellings and less accessible for the inhabitants.

Their walls were made of a kind of Torchis (called jacal in Mexico) applied to a trellis-work. Constructions best preserved today comprised a structure of dry stones held together by a mortar. One could also use cooked bricks. In various villages, certain houses kept traces of decorative paintings, on coatings in Plâtre, Argile or adobe.

The roof was covered by layers of clay and branches maintained on logs with wood. The houses counted one level at the beginning, but could increase by the top, by adding one or two additional stages. Several rectangular parts were reserved for the storage of food at the ground floor. The daily life proceeded especially on the terraces of these dwellings: workspace (preparation of corn, weaving), they were also used as place of sociability.

In the villages, the archeologists were interested much in the places ( plaza ) and in the kivas: these parts were reserved for work or rest in the first times. Then, large the kivas seems to have been used as place of religious ceremonies for the community. (See the paragraph on the beliefs).

Food and kitchen

Sedentary farmers, Anasazis cultivated their fields which were close to the dwellings. They collected the Maïs (which were at the base of their food), the Haricot S, the Courge S, the Calebasse S and the Tabac. All these plants were originating in the Mésoamérique and are fundamental in civilizations précolombiennes. The fields were on flat spaces (mesas, Plaine S…) up to 2100 meters above the sea level. Higher, the climatic conditions were too difficult to cultivate. Their agrarian instruments were out of stone and wood (Houe, shovel, stick to be excavated…) since Anasazis did not control the techniques of the metallurgy.

On the other hand, these people gradually adopted the techniques of irrigation come from Mexico: either by drawing the water of the rivers (Rio Grande), or by constituting water reserves of rain. Construction small Stopping S, of channels and tanks required a certain organization of the community. Part of harvests was stored in the event of bad harvests. Part of the religious ceremonies were to call the protection of the spirits on harvests. The corn and the marrows were dried and stored. The pine cones were detached using poles before being heated so that they release the pinions. The latter either were consumed directly, or crushed to prepare wafers. The seeds of Tournesol were to be shelled and stored in earthenware jars. The cereals were kept in closed containers, in order to protect them from the rodents and insects. At the 6th century a Poterie appears decorated with figures (lines, points) who undoubtedly take again simple decorations of Vannerie. Later, the decoration becomes more complex: representations of animals or human beings are drawn. The colors used are different according to the areas: black and white in Colorado, black and red in the north of Arizona, red and chamois in Utah. The pottery was often richly decorated with reasons encrusted before cooking by means of various objects (cereal ears, stem of yucca or shells).

Even if they had given up the wandering lifestyle since centuries, the Amerindians of American South-west never completely gave up the Chasse and the gathering practiced by their ancestors. wild Pinions, bays, fruits (prickly pears) constituted an auxiliary food. They found game on the plates (Bison S, Cervidé S, Antilope S) and in the mountains (Cervidé S, Wapiti S, moufflons). Smaller animals (rabbits, squirrel S, birds…) were captured by means of traps and of nets in Yucca and constituted the independent source of meat.

The larger animals were output on the place of hunting. The meat was adapted in ragouts or chopped. One also appreciated the marrow bones and one kept the skin and the tendons for other uses. The breeding of the Dinde S was only used to provide feathers. Their meat was not consumed. Like the dogs, they were used rather as pet.

To prepare the meal, one made fire by rubbing a stick on a wood plate. The hearth was then maintained in a hole dug with same ground. To cook, one made use of ustensils out of terra cotta, wooden or bone. To make boil water, one could not light a fire under a pottery: that would have destroyed it! One thus deposited extreme stones at the bottom of the container so that they heat the liquid.

To finish, one can note that traces of Cannibalisme were found on old sites anasazi like that of Cowboy Wash (IXe and Xe centuries).

Beliefs

Anasazis left many Pétroglyphe S in the American desert on cliff S in sandstone. They are more or less stylized drawings, engraved in the wall of the canyons. Some of these graffiti were painted directly on the rock. They can be isolated or cover several square meters. The archeologists can make only assumptions as for their significance:

These drawings often appear of the animals and testify to the importance of hunting.
Of other signs would be chart S rudimentary indicating of the sources or the villages.
the cereal figuration represents a good harvest.
Certains reasons represents a family or a group of men. Scenes of dance.
the spirals, of which some reach 75 centimetres in diameter, evoke the movement of the sun or the time which passes. Perhaps they belong to a kind of ritual Calendrier. For Pueblos of today, they symbolize the migrations of the tribes.

Several sites of petroglyphs are in relation to the Solstice S of summer and winter. Those of National Hovenweep Monument or the hillock Fajada (the dagger of the sun ) indicate this moment of the year clearly. Alignments of buildings of the archeological site of Chimney Rock prove that Anasazis included/understood and could envisage the draconitic cycle of the Moon, which lasts 18,6 years.

The historians are unaware of if there was a Clergé structured. It is known that certain characters occasionally sought to cause visions by taking plants hallucinogens. Seeds of Datura were found in Mesa Verde: this toxic plant causes hallucinations. The ceremonies were practiced on furnace bridges, which one preserved some specimens out of painted wooden. The excavations also collected sticks of prayer out of wooden which were offered to the “spirits”. Chaco Canyon seems for certain historians, to have been a great center of Pèlerinage for the populations of the neighborhoods.

Old Anasazis returned a worship to the god Kokopelli like to the kachinas, of the invisible spirits. There were collective ceremonies intended to call upon the spirits so that they protect the community. They were organized in the kivas. The religion of Anasazis approached the Animisme: one found the bones of a parrot buried macaw in a ritual way with Salmon Ruin in New Mexico.

The Kiva S were circular ritual rooms dug in the ground and covered with a roof; partly underground building, one went down there by small scales to practice the worship or to join together the council of the village. A hearth was arranged in the center and smoke escaped by a ventilation shaft, equipped with a deflector. Largest could accommodate several hundreds of people who could sit down on stone benches. Large the kivas of Chaco Canyon had a diameter of 18 meters and was subdivided according to the cardinal points. Religious holidays related to the agricultural cycles were to be celebrated in these kivas, exclusively by the men.

Social organization

The company was to probably resemble that of Pueblos current. The company of Anasazis is organized according to a system Matriarcal (the couple is installed on the place of residence of the mother of the wife) and matrilinéaire. They are the women who have the family inheritance, house and fields. The husband must integrate the clan of his wife. The woman can divorce. The archeologists are not certain that Anasazis lived as clans. They lean rather for a levelling organization, without hierarchical social groups.

Craft industry and trade

The men wove the Coton to make covers and shirts of them. They used other vegetable fibers (yucca) or matters of animal origin (skins, furs) for their clothing. They carried sandals and moccasins, and probably of the shoes adapted to snow for the winter.

The jewels were current: collars, earrings, bracelets, pins, combs were made out of wood, bone, Corail, Jais and various stones. The turquoise gave place to a flowering trade and the Amerindians lent magic powers to them; the least beautiful were used as currency. One even found musical instruments (flute in bone…).

Anasazis made come from the shells of California, of the copper pearls of Mexico, cotton, fibrolite, the parrots (macaws) of Mexico… The merchants borrowed paths which formed a rather vast network. But there were not true roads made-up for the trade, contrary to the ways of the empire INCA. Moreover, the rivers of the area are not navigable.

Pueblo Bonito , in Chaco Canyon, is attested like one of the great centers of trade of Anasazis. The area was traversed by a network of ways which connected between them a hundred villages. One did not pay with money but by giving something in exchange: it is the system of the Troc.

In the daily life, Anasazis made use of various objects, which one can see today in the large American museums:

Baskets, baskets made in wicker, yucca, sumac were intended for multiple uses. They for example were used as backpack to transport tools, branches or food.
Potteries and ceramics: ballot boxes, bowls, earthenware jars, jugs, spoons, small figurines…
Tools and stone weapons: Awl S, arrowheads, bludgeons, knives in Obsidian, limonite or fibrolite axes.
Objects for the weaving of cotton, to sew leather (needles in bone).
Wire (sometimes in hair), string and ropes (fibers of yucca).

Conclusion: civilization or prehistoric people?

For Jerry J. Brody, the culture anasazi is “best known prehistoric cultures of American South-west”. It is true that Anasazis did not have a writing and knew neither the wheel, nor the currency. They did not control the techniques of the metallurgy and did not really bring major innovations. Their history is not as brilliant as that of Mésoamérique or Incas.

However, the conquistadors estimated that people which weave cotton were civilized. The control of the irrigation, the stone-built houses and floor (Pueblo Bonito counts 5 of them), knowledge in astronomy testifies to a dynamic and rich culture. If one measures a civilization with his degree of urbanization, it is certain that Anasazis form part of it. Certain agglomerations would have counted 6.000 inhabitants. The villages of Chaco Canyon if were brought closer that they formed a Conurbation gathering 15 to 30.000 inhabitants. Anasazis succeeded in the prowess to build in difficult to reach places, without draft animals nor metal tools. The large houses of Chaco Canyon required hundreds of million blocks of sandstone and hundreds of thousands of beams. Anasazis did not finish revealing their mysteries and taking part in the imaginary collective.

Archeological sites

Mesa Verde National Park: classified with the inheritance of Humanity (“With its 4000 archeological sites, Mesa Verde constitutes today a priceless treasure for the whole world”)
Chaco Canyon (New Mexico), classified with the inheritance of Large Humanity
Aztec Ruins National Monument
Casa Ruins National Monument
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
Canyon De Chelly National Monument
Hovenweep National Monument
Bandelier National Monument
Montezuma Castle National Monument
Tuzigoot National Monument
Wupatki National Monument
Canyon off the National Ancients Monument
Mancos (Colorado)
Chock Cup Mesa (Utah)
Kuana (New Mexico)
San Gabriel in San Juan Pueblo (New Mexico)
Dolores Valley (500/1000)
Escalante Pueblo
Chimney Rock'n'roll, close to Pagosa Springs (Colorado)

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