The Anasazi were an intriguing group of people who were the cultural, if not actual, relatives of the various Pueblo groups found throughout the Southwest United States. One of the facts which intrigues archeologists and those who know about the Anasazi, is the complete disappearance of this entire culture from the large area which they had inhabited. The reason this is so puzzling is that there is no apparent evidence which would suggest what had happened to them. Or where they went to. They just disappeared around 1150 A.D. to 1250 A.D. from the areas in which they had lived for centuries.

The disappearance of the Anasazi from the Moapa Valley followed the same pattern as the disappearance of that culture did elsewhere. Around 700 B.C. to 600 B.C., the Moapa valley was inhabited by the Basketmakers. Initially these were a nomadic people who hunted just about anything that moved and gathered various plants and seeds for food. A distinct characteristic of this group is that they wove very fine baskets from willow bark and the stringy parts of Yucca plants. The principal tool used to hunt was the Atlatl, a very effective spear thrower. The use of the Atlatl can be traced back to the very earliest times that man has been in North America.

Eventually, through trade and other forms of contact, the Basketmaker people were influenced by other cultures. Many of these influences came from the south in Arizona and Mexico. The Atlatl was replaced by the bow and arrow. More significant influence was the introduction of agriculture. The Basketmaker people learned how to grow maize, squash and beans. They also learned how to make pottery. These new cultural influences were also reflected in the architectural style of the Anasazi.

In less than a thousand years the Basketmakers evolved from nomadic hunter gathers to a sophisticated agricultural society, the Anasazi. This society reached the height of its population around 800 A. D. when it populated the entire length of the valley along the banks of the Muddy River. It appears that the population declined somewhat over the next 400 years. Then everything ended abruptly.

There are none of the usual signs of invasion, disease or migration. They simply vanished. What they left behind shows a high degree of sophistication in ceramic art and design. Without a potters wheel they created bowls and pots some of which have a thickness of only 1/8 th of an inch. These the design styles varied with the time that they were made. Thus it is possible to date an Anasazi site by the pottery found there. This pottery is found throughout the Southern Nevada area. It is found at cave sites in the Spring Mountains as well as in the Sheep Mountains.

The Las Vegas valley shows considerable evidence of Anasazi visitation at a number of places. In fact, the Big Springs site, showed evidence of some kind of permanent structure. In the 1930's, a dentist named John S. Parks excavated what appeared to be an L-shaped pueblo at Big Springs. Other than this one site, it seems that the Anasazi visited the valley only to hunt. Perhaps the Las Vegas valley was a stopping point for Anasazi hunters.

With a culture this widespread, with such a long history in the area, the question still remains. Where did they go? Some people have suggested disease. The none of the graves that have been excavated show signs of disease or mass burial. The skulls of older individuals show signs of severe abscesses caused by tooth decay. The Anasazi ground their corn and seeds on stone metates. Apparently the stone was also ground up and became part of meal. Thus over a life time the crowns of an individuals teeth would be ground down to the gums. Tooth decay set in, severe abscessing occurred. These deep abscesses are still painfully evident on some of the skulls even after a thousand years. This was perhaps even a cause of death in some cases. But not the cause of the entire society disappearing.

If the Anasazi migrated somewhere, where did they go? There is no evidence of the Anasazi having arrived anywhere as an intact culture. If they did move somewhere else, then they completely gave up their own highly evolved cultural identity and assumed the culture of wherever they went. Not likely.

Invasion? No signs of that. However, their is some dispute over the meaning of the name Anasazi. This is a Navaho name. Some people interpret the name to mean the 'Ancient Ones'. Others interpret it to mean 'Ancient Enemy'. In fact the Navaho did arrive in the southwest at about the time of the disappearance of the Anasazi. Where did the Navaho come from? The clue is in the Navaho language. The Navaho language belongs to the Athabascan group. These are languages spoken by native groups in Canada. Apparently the Navaho migrated into the southwest from what is now Canada. Did they displace the Anasazi? Not likely, this branch of the Anasazi lived hundreds of miles from where the Navaho settled.

None of the explanations rendered to this point have fit the data or common sense. The mystery remains intact and may never be solved. What we do have are the thousands of petroglyphs and artifacts which they left behind.

Please Note: bravely I still publish my earlier thoughts. My viewpoints may have changed regarding some of the details. It is necessary to publish this as my information and perspective growths and changes because what I used to think is important also and people did make references to it.