Anasazi

Navajo word, Anaasazi, meaning "Ancient Ones" or "Ancient Enemy;" an ancient Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States of southern Utah, northeastern Arizona, southeastern Nevada, northern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado.

The Anasazi lived in a wide range of structures including pit houses calledpueblos, and cliff dwellings designed so that they could lift entry ladders during enemy attacks. Archaeologists sometimes refer to the unique set of material culture remains as "Anasazi" although the term is not preferred by contemporary Pueblo peoples and often loosely used as a name for the occupants.

A distinct debate remains regarding when this sophisticated culture emerged, but a general consensus agrees that the Anasazi mysteriously disappeared around 1100 AD. The Anasazi of Nevada utilized smart water practices along the banks of the Virgin River and Muddy River near present-day Moapa Valley where they practiced "Three Sisters Farming" of corn, beans, and squash. The Anasazi Lost City Museum in Overton preserves much of what is left of their existence in Nevada.

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