Anasazi culture dates from approximately 2500 BC and represents a local development out of the earlier Desert Culture of the American Southwest. Two other cultures, the Hohokam and Mogollon, also developed out of the Desert Culture. The Anasazi are known for their Baskermaker I, II, III, and Pueblo I, II, and III traditions. Pottery appears in Basketmaker III from around 450 to 700 AD. The Anasazi were making a transition from Gathering/Hunting to Agriculture around this time, and the sites are indicative of the transition to semi-sedentary life and incipient agriculture. Pueblo I, II, and III cultures develop out of the Basketmaker traditions and mark periods of village life, transitions from pit houses and subterranean dwellings to surface dwellings, communal structures, central plazas, and larger population centers such as Mesa Verge . Chaco Canyon, and others.
Wukoki ruin, pictured here, originates in Pueblo III, from 1100 to 1300 AD. It probably housed 3 to 4 large families at its period of greatest success, and likely represents a return to smaller communities from the larger ones due to protracted periods of drought and subsequent environmental decline. During this time, families dispersed from the larger communal structures to smaller communities where less food needed to be grown to sustain the local population. The site is not far from the larger ceremonial center known as Wupatki, and while each of them is certainly worth visiting, Wukoki is -- in my opinion -- a spiritual experience. If you have a digital camera and can take photos of 4 megapixels and above, zoom in on the ruin well past the point where clarity ends and see for yourself. |
