Q 01/05

The name Anasazi, which many Pueblo people reject, comes from which language, where it means 'enemy ancestors'?

A) Apache

B) Navajo

C) Comanche

D) Shoshone

Answer · why

B) Navajo

Navajo is the source of Anaasází, a label the rancher Richard Wetherill picked up while exploring Mesa Verde. Today's Pueblo peoples prefer the term A...

Q 02/05

Traces in pottery at Pueblo Bonito show that Ancestral Puebloans imported which tropical delicacy from 1,200 miles away?

A) Vanilla

B) Avocado

C) Cacao

D) Pineapple

Answer · why

C) Cacao

Cacao, the bean behind chocolate, was identified in 2009 on sherds from Pueblo Bonito. It grows only in the tropics, so every bean reached Chaco Canyo...

Q 03/05

Which bird did Ancestral Puebloans at Mesa Verde domesticate, turning its feathers into warm blankets?

A) Turkey

B) Chicken

C) Duck

D) Goose

Answer · why

A) Turkey

Turkey was the bird of choice: by the 13th century it had replaced deer as the main source of meat at many Mesa Verde sites. Its bones were shaped int...

Q 04/05

Rancher Richard Wetherill first saw Mesa Verde's Cliff Palace in 1888 while out searching for what?

A) Silver deposits

B) Wild horses

C) Fresh water

D) Stray cattle

Answer · why

D) Stray cattle

Stray cattle led Wetherill and his brother-in-law Charlie Mason to the mesa top that December. The dwelling they spotted had been empty for almost 600...

Q 05/05

Which civilisation did 19th-century settlers wrongly credit with an Ancestral Puebloan great house in New Mexico?

A) The Maya

B) The Aztecs

C) The Inca

D) The Toltecs

Answer · why

B) The Aztecs

The Aztecs lived far away in central Mexico, but the mistake stuck. The site is still called Aztec Ruins National Monument, and the town beside it is ...