7th Grade Humanities WebQuest

Who Really Discovered America ?

Introduction:

Hundreds of years before Columbus arrived in the "new world" native peoples in the American Southwest were building pit houses and other complex dwellings, planning kivas and roads, trading, creating art and pottery, and implementing a complex pattern of social living. The people who lived near the present day Four Corners area of the Southwest left no written records of their lives, but archaeologists have gradually revealed the complexity of the culture that thrived in the canyons and deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. How this culture, commonly called "Anasazi" emerged and then disappeared is only now being understood. The Anasazi (translated in Navajo to mean "ancient ones" or "ancient enemies") culture thrived from roughly 500 to 1130 A.D. and though many of their communities were abruptly abandoned, at least 19 Pueblo Communities in the present day Southwest can trance some of their cultural heritage to these ancient people.

In this WebQuest your group will read, research, ask questions, and present your findings about these people to your classmates in the other sections of 7th grade Humanities. You will become the experts on the Anasazi.