The Anasazi

The Anasazi. Dominguez y Escalante Expedition . 1776-1976. , During their two day encampment along the Dolores River, members of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition visited prehistoric ruins on the hills west of the river. Today, the Escalante Ruins are excavated and open for public viewing. They are a fascinating reminder that this area of Colorado has been the home of at least three cultures. The earliest, the Anasazi, arrived at about the time of the birth of Christ. , The Anasazi lived in the Four Corners region for over a thousand years. (“Anasazi” is an anglicized Navajo word meaning “old peoples.”) As with most early North American peoples, it is generally accepted that they were descendants of a Central Asian people who entered North America by way of the Bering Strait. Their civilization developed from a basket-making culture. This early people had not yet developed the art of making pottery, and they lived in caves and pithouses. From this simple beginning, a complex urban civilization developed. The fabulous ruins at Mesa Verde are testimony to the many skills and complex social organization of the Anasazi during their classical period. , The Escalante Ruins were probably occupied during the middle period of Anasazi development. Central to the ruins is a Kiva, built sometime after 700 A.D. Kivas were used for religious ceremonies, not for habitations. , The Anasazi were a hunting and gathering people. Though they did cultivate several crops: maize (corn), pumpkins, and later cotton and beans, their diet was composed primarily of game, wild nuts, fruits and vegetables. This early people did not have the bow and arrow, but they did use spears and the atlatl, a spear thrower, in hunting. , The Anasazi had long since departed this area by the time of Dominguez and Escalante. They left behind many fascinating reminders of their residence here, one of the little known chapters in the history of the Southwest.