Formerly known as the Anasazi, the Ancestral Puebloans dominated the present-day Four Corners region of the Southwest from about 500-1250 AD. The Ancestral Puebloans first settled in the plateau area where water was in abundance, initially located at Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Kayenta. They were basket-makers and hunter-gatherers who eventually migrated across the entire Colorado Plateau, including Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and southwestern Colorado. Around the first millennium BC, the domestication of corn, beans, and squash reached the Southwest region. By about 500 AD, agriculture began to play a significant role in the economy, and permanent villages were established.
Modern Pueblo communities, such as the Hopi, Zuni, and Acoma, trace their origins to the Ancestral Puebloans who they believed had descended from the Underworld around 7000 BC and settled the land of the North American Southwest. When the Spanish arrived in the American Southwest, Pueblo religion was widely persecuted, and the people began to disperse themselves across the Southwest region. Modern artists who are descendants of these peoples still make use of the ancient traditions.
After the domestication of cultigens, the early “Basket-makers” constructed underground pit houses and storage bins to accommodate their growing …show more content…
This abundance of ceremonial spaces indicates the importance of religion and social gathering in Ancestral Puebloan societies. At Pueblo Bonita in Chaco Canyon, for example, ritual spaces are identified by the presence of stone benches and a hole in the center. These holes may reflect the concept of the “sipapu”, or ritual opening to the Underworld. These unique structures may relate to later Puebloan buildings called “kivas”. Kivas are sandstone ceremonial structures that can be distinguished by a T-shaped doorway and stone
Modern Pueblo communities, such as the Hopi, Zuni, and Acoma, trace their origins to the Ancestral Puebloans who they believed had descended from the Underworld around 7000 BC and settled the land of the North American Southwest. When the Spanish arrived in the American Southwest, Pueblo religion was widely persecuted, and the people began to disperse themselves across the Southwest region. Modern artists who are descendants of these peoples still make use of the ancient traditions.
After the domestication of cultigens, the early “Basket-makers” constructed underground pit houses and storage bins to accommodate their growing …show more content…
This abundance of ceremonial spaces indicates the importance of religion and social gathering in Ancestral Puebloan societies. At Pueblo Bonita in Chaco Canyon, for example, ritual spaces are identified by the presence of stone benches and a hole in the center. These holes may reflect the concept of the “sipapu”, or ritual opening to the Underworld. These unique structures may relate to later Puebloan buildings called “kivas”. Kivas are sandstone ceremonial structures that can be distinguished by a T-shaped doorway and stone