Table of Contents
Mr. Z’s classroom film calls earlier desert farmers the Anasazi and sets them in the Southwest before Navajo and Hopi towns. Rock art survives without writing, so their choice of dry country stays a guess, perhaps a refuge from hostile neighbors. Houses begin as stacked slabs, then families join, clay and logs appear, and walls climb two or three levels. The film’s great house is a five story Pueblo Bonito. A child’s voice shows ground maize, a stick fire, outdoor meals, coil pots, and rabbit fur sewn with a bone awl. Father and uncle take him south to trade antlers for dark volcanic glass, plus shell, coral, and news of a green bird. The glass costs more than the antlers. Raiders force a hiding and some goods are lost. Cliff homes, the close says, were left near 1300, and adobe river farmers lived quietly until Europeans arrived.
Key points
- The film uses Anasazi for desert farmers it places in the Southwest long before the communities that came later.
- Masonry, it says, grew from simple slabs into multiroom houses of clay, timber, and several floors.
- A dramatized household shows maize cakes, outdoor meals, coil pottery, and blankets of rabbit fur.
- A trading journey south bargains antlers against volcanic glass and mentions shell, coral, and a foreign bird.
- The ending says cliff homes were abandoned near 1300 and that river farmers lived on until Europeans came.
Short quotes
the Anasazi began to build their homes two and even three stories high
Mr. Z, Anasazi life in a classroom film
The narration places multistory houses late in a long building sequence. Watch at 1:20
we always eat outdoors unless it is raining
Mr. Z, Anasazi life in a classroom film
The dramatized child describes ordinary meals in the open. Watch at 3:33
the glass is worth much more than the antlers
Mr. Z, Anasazi life in a classroom film
In the trade scene, dark volcanic glass outranks the antlers offered for it. Watch at 6:37
Video by Mr. Z (World & US History). Watch on YouTube.