Introduction | Pueblo Indian History for Kids. Ancestral Puebloans of the Four Corners Region | Articles | Colorado Encyclopedia. Formerly labeled Anasazi, the Ancestral Puebloan culture is the most widely known of the ancient cultures of Colorado. The people who built the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde and the great houses of Chaco Canyon were subsistence farmers of corn, beans, and squash. The structures of this culture date to between ca. 350 BC and AD 1300 and are found throughout southwestern Colorado and other adjacent states of the Four Corners region. The great southward migration from this region by AD 1300 marks the end of the Ancestral Puebloan occupation in southwestern Colorado. The sites and histories of this ancestral culture are still valued today in song and prayer by the Pueblo peoples now residing in New Mexico and Arizona.
Ancestral Pueblo refers to both the ancient cultural tradition and the peoples once found in the Four Corners area of the American Southwest. Early Archaeology and Terminology Early investigators such as Richard Wetherill and Alfred V. The Chaco World (AD 900–1125) Ancestral Puebloan - Science of the American Southwest. Ancestral Puebloan refers to the maize agriculturalists who lived across the northern Southwest from the beginnings of cultivation until the coming of the Spanish explorers in A.D. 1540.
Cultural traits common to the Ancestral Puebloan peoples include heavy dependence on cultivated foods, the construction of pueblos (multi-room and at times, multi-story, masonry structures), distinctive pottery, and the construction and use of kivas (subterranean ceremonial chambers). However, as in historic times, the prehistoric Puebloan world demonstrated many contrasting traits from west to east. Ancestral Pueblo people in the western part of the Southwest were primarily dry or floodwater farmers, and developed a set of religious beliefs that emphasize the sacred importance of rain and concentrate an annual cycle of religious ritual on rain making.
Ancestral Pueblo culture | North American Indian culture. Ancestral Pueblo culture, also called Anasazi, prehistoric Native American civilization that existed from approximately ad 100 to 1600, centring generally on the area where the boundaries of what are now the U.S. states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah intersect. The descendents of the Ancestral Pueblo comprise the modern Pueblo tribes, including the Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, and Laguna.
As farmers, Ancestral Pueblo peoples and their nomadic neighbours were often mutually hostile; this is the source of the term Anasazi, a Navajo word meaning “ancestors of the enemy,” which once served as the customary scientific name for this group. Ancestral Pueblo prehistory is typically divided into six developmental periods. The periods and their approximate dates are Late Basketmaker II (ad 100–500), Basketmaker III (500–750), Pueblo I (750–950), Pueblo II (950–1150), Pueblo III (1150–1300), and Pueblo IV (1300–1600). Britannica Quiz More Archaeological Discoveries Quiz. Ancestral Puebloans: Facts About The People Of The Four Corners. Ancestral Puebloans were the people who lived in the famous cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde and other ruins in the Four Corners region about 1400 years ago. Their descendents now comprise the modern Pueblo tribes of the Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, and Laguna.
These ancient people had a booming culture in the area for more than 700 years. 1. Nomenclature of Ancestral Puebloans The culture and people of this region are often referred to as Anasazi, but most modern Native Americans of Puebloan descent object to the use of this term. The name actually comes from the ancient Navajo people and means ancient enemies. 2. Ancestral Puebloan culture is divided amongst three main geographical areas in the western United States. 3. The Ancestral Puebloans lived in structures build from sandstone and adobe. Cliff Dwellings Further archaelogical findings suggests that elite families lived in large great houses, where items such as jewelry, ceramics, and musical instruments have been discovered. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Mesa Verde cliff dwellings (article)