The term Anasazi came into wide use about 70 years ago. Here is an excerpt from Dr. William Lipe's comments on the subject:
"The earliest published reference was by Kidder in the mid-1930s…. J.O. Brew (1946) rails against the use of the term 'Anasazi' on the grounds that a Navajo term is inappropriate for an obviously Puebloan culture, that 'Basketmaker-Pueblo' or 'Puebloan' had precedence in the literature, and would do just as well for continued reference to this cultural tradition…. My guess is that this Navajo word… caught on in the middle 1930s [with archaeologists because] it did not imply any particular cultural relationship….. It was bad practice to pre-judge the historical conclusions by identifying a prehistoric archaeological complex with some historically or ethnographically known culture."
Today, however, no doubt remains that these prehistoric people were ancestral to modern Pueblos, who insist that their ancestors did not permanently “abandon" their former territories. Modern Pueblos still make pilgrimages to ancestral village sites, have oral histories about them, and maintain shrines in the Four Corners region. The term ancestral Puebloan has replaced the term Anasazi in academic parlance.
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Anasazi, is a Navajo word meaning "ancient enemy" (or ancient stranger, alien, foreigner, or outsider). Modern Pueblos speak several different languages, and do not share a common term for their ancestors.