World’s Greatest Mysteries – Season 2 – Episode 8: Ancient Anasazis: Extinct Civilization Or Abandoned Culture

Anasazi is an archaeological term to describe the ancient pueblo people, a prehistoric Native American culture centered in the present-day -Four Corners area of the Southwest United States. Noted for their distinctive pottery and dwelling construction styles, the Anasazi emerged as a sophisticated society about 1200 BC and suddenly migrated from their homes between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD. Who were these ancient, and apparently, sophisticated people? What were their lives like? What could have possibly motivated an entire culture to suddenly abandon their homes leaving everything - utensils, pottery, toys, even food - still in place? Did a single event, such as war or drought, cause them to leave their seemingly well-ordered towns and villages? Or was it something else? This television program studies the compelling drama of what changes forced these people to uproot their entire culture. Why did they build such spectacular stone dwellings, only to leave them in obvious haste? Are these amazing structures, which have remained silent for thousands of years, now calling out a warning across the centuries? Was something the Anasazi discovered that would impact our lives today?