What to call the early pueblo-building inhabitants of the Four Corners area, circa 700 to 1300 A.D., has lately become a subject of dispute. "Anasazi" is a Navajo word, said by some to mean "ancient ones," by others to mean "old enemies."
The Navajo did not migrate from the north to the Colorado Plateau area until the 17th century, scientists believe, and by then the people they called "Anasazi" had left behind cliff and surface dwellings spread over a vast area.Larry Davis, manager of Utah's Anasazi State Park in Boulder, says he'd not heard of the "enemy" application until relatively recently.
He once asked a Navajo elder what Anasazi means. "He said, `People who lived a long time ago and nobody knew.' "
The Hopi Tribe prefers the term "Hisatsinom," which translates as "our ancestors," notes an exhibit in Flagstaff's Museum of Northern Arizona.
But that, too, has limited application, Davis notes: The Southwest's Zuni and Rio Grande Pueblo tribes also appear to be descendants of these fascinating peoples.
Newsweek recently reported that, in response to suggestions from the Hopi Tribe Cultural Preservation Office, Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado is working to remove offensive words from brochures. These include "Anasazi" ("ancestral Puebloans" is preferred), "ancient" (early is better) and "primitive" (which implies "inferior"). Even "rock art" (for "petroglyphs" and "pictographs" is in disfavor.
All in all, Davis thinks the war of and about words is much ado about nothing.
" `Anasazi' is pretty well ingrained in archaeology," Davis says.
He doesn't see a name change to "Hisatsinom State Park" happening any day soon.