500 Nations: The Anasazi

[Music] in this hour we will travel back in time to three stunning civilizations that flourish long before the arrival of europeans to the anasazi of the southwest the mound builders of the mississippi and the great pyramid builders of the maya [Music]

[Music] to the outsider the sun-beaten deserts of the american southwest are a harsh and unforgiving land reluctant to support life [Music] to the ancient people who lived there it was a place where the creator provided everything there is nothing there that you can see even to this day very little vegetation see a lot of

rocks you see a lot of sand the hopis have always maintained that that's a chosen place for them it was chosen for them by the creator the great spirit for the whole peace the ancient people of the desert were the ancestors of all the modern pueblo nations to their hopi descendants they are known

as the satsunam but to most of the world they are known by the navajo name anasazi around 900 a.d the anasazi flourished in a wide circle covering parts of modern day utah colorado arizona and new mexico

the anasazi found balance with their world they learned where to find water and how to harness it villages joined together to build dams reservoirs and irrigation canals turning deserts into gardens of corn and squash they were a people intimately connected to their land in a very real sense they emerged from it generations before the time of christ

the anasazi lived in subterranean pit houses sunken homes with stonework walls and broad strong roofs formidable protection against the searing sun and bitter cold of the desert with time they adapted their above-ground storage houses into living spaces but the underground pit houses were not abandoned they were retained as spiritual places of teaching