The "Mystery People"
The "Four Corners"
How can one describe a land as desolate as the desert of the southwest United States? It is dry and hot; rays of sun hammer down on a man’s body, searing his flesh and leeching precious sweat out of his skin. There is no easy life to be had in the desert. Only a few toughened plants and animals, well-adapted to the torturous environment, are able to survive. The desert is cruel but also beautiful. Red-ochre rock plateaus, huge, rolling waves of stone, held still in time, are settled along grand rivers and can be seen amid great, stone arches. The sky is a sharp, vivid shade of blue that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. At night, the sky is magnificent; it is a pitch-black blanket behind the stars and a backdrop to the cosmos. An ancient civilization of people once inhabited this land. Their name, Anasazi, means “ancestors of our enemies”. In this barren world, they built an entire civilization, made up of hundreds of clans and families. The desert is almost the same as it was when they had left it; time moves slower in the desert. Even though the ancient Anasazi had an advanced culture that seemed to thrive in the deserts of the southwest United States, they saw fit to abandon their dwellings and possessions all at once, and leave our modern society with one of the greatest mysteries ever faced.