/ah'neuh sah"zee/ , n. , pl. Anasazis , ( esp. collectively ) Anasazi for 2.
1. a Basket Maker-Pueblo culture of the plateau region of northern Arizona and New Mexico and of southern Utah and Colorado, dating probably from A.D. 100 to 1300.
2. a member of the people producing this culture.
adj.
3. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of this culture or its people: the Anasazi communities.
[ term introduced in 1936 by U.S. archaeologist Alfred V. Kidder (1885-1963) 'anaasází ancient inhabitants of the Pueblo ruins, lit., aliens' ancestors (' anaa- enemy, alien + -sází ancestor(s), ancestral) ]