The Anasazi Indians lived over 1,000 years ago. We built our homes in a special place. Instead of wide open land, the Southwest is made of uneven land with canyons and mesas (ma' suz).

We built our homes into the side of the mesa. For this reason, we are also called the Cliff dwellers. The buildings that the we live in look like large apartment buildings. These buildings had over 200 rooms, and more than 400 people lived there.

We built our buildings with stone. Because of the stone mesas, there was an abundance of stone to use for our dwellings. In between the stones we placed mud to hold the stones together. WE have square windows and no doors. We enter our homes by climbing a ladder and going through a hole in the roof. We could then bring the ladders inside their homes to keep out unwanted visitors.

Each family had at least two rooms of its own. If a family was large, it had more rooms. Rooms were sometimes built on top of other rooms as the family grew. There were also rooms shared by all the people in the community.