The Mystery of the Anasazi People: The Ancient Strangers

From 100 B.C. to 1300 A.D. an ancient tribe of presumed Native Americans inhabited a desert area in Southwestern United States. This tribe was called the Anasazi, which in Navajo means "Ancient Enemy", however, some have stated that the translation can also mean "Ancient Strangers" or "Ancient Visitors".

The mystery of the Anasazi people has fascinated many historians and Ancient Alien Theorists because the tribe seemingly disappeared without evidence as to what happened to them. What is more intriguing is the fact that this civilization was known as the Anasazi not because the tribe itself called themselves this, but because their neighboring Navajo tribes referred to them as this. So, this is an example of a civilization which was known of and witnessed by another civilization that also has no explanation as to how they disappeared Rarely in history do you find ancient civilization sites where another civilization can explain to you who the studied people were, this is usually figured out by means of educated guesses formulated by their artifact findings. In this case, it can't be dismissed that the only other witness to the Anasazi people stated that there was something strange about them; the Navajo encountered many different tribes during their history, but never called them "Ancient Strangers".

Now, the idea behind the Anasazi having been Ancient Aliens also stems from the artwork that was left behind by the tribe, some of which depict beings with extraterrestrial features. Around the world, ancient civilizations tell stories about the origin of their culture, many of which state that beings from the sky visited their earliest ancestors and taught them about agriculture, religion, and science. Some notable civilizations with these beliefs include the Egyptians who believed the God Thoth came to them and gave them the gift of knowledge and civilization, the Native American Hopi tribe and their belief of the Sky People who came down from the heavens to teach them many things, and the ancient Sumerians who also believed their Gods, the Anunnaki, came from the sky to teach them about society, math, science and promised to one day return.

Like many ancient civilizations, the Anasazi people used the stars and constellations to map their seasons, agricultural calendars and for navigational purposes; they were what we call Sky Watchers. The tribe, located in the southwestern Four Corners, an area where the borders of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet, built an ancient observatory used to study the stars.

Around 1300 A.D. the Anasazi people disappeared from history, with a few of their cultural aspects being found with other Native American tribes like the Hopi, but not enough cultural influence to definitively state that they simply left the area and populated another location altogether, the sudden disappearance of their cultural artwork and pottery suggest otherwise.

Mainstream archeologists contend that the Anasazi people's disappearance from history is a direct result of their rapid change of culture, suggesting that the tribe underwent massive and rapid changes in their sociological structures destabilizing their progress and leading to their destruction. This is a highly debated fact as it gives no credible substance on what social changes could have caused such a fate. A similar explanation was given by mainstream archeology once about the destruction of the Mayan people, stating that their lust for limestone plaster for their pyramids lead them to cut down trees in order to burn them and use the fires to pulverize limestone rocks, however, the fire would have to have been extremely hot to do this, insinuating that more wood was needed for this process; in other words, deforestation led to their demise. This idea is plausible, but this type of specific analysis is not offered for the Anasazi case.

The ancient astronaut theory says that the Anasazi people were ancient aliens who came from the heavens and their disappearance is attributed to them having simply gone back to where they came from, the sky.