The Anasazi were primarily cliff dwellers who lived in the southwestern United State from about the time of Christ until 1300. They then mysteriously vanished. The center of their universe lay at Chaco Canyon in northeastern New Mexico.  Here the Anasazi built a large city.  The ruins are now a National Monument.

We can, of course, know little or nothing about the oral traditions of these disappeared people.  However, almost all native people have raven myths.  The raven appears as both a trickster and creator.  Several northern people tell of the raven’s creation of a dark world, devoid of the moon, stars, or sun.  Through trickery, Raven steals these objects from the people, who guard them in ornate boxes.  The people get back at Raven by tricking him to open a box containing the sun.  However, the people are so awed by the light that they flee to every corner of the world.  Was this the fate of the Anasazi?  Their trail disappears, with only ruins and fading pictographs to chronicle their existence.

Only the trickster Raven remains, laughing.