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Anasazi (ah-nah-SAH-zee) is a Navajo word meaning “ancestral enemies,” so many scholars prefer Ancestral Puebloans or pre-Puebloans to refer to the Native American civilization that thrived in the Four Corners area. The chronology of Anasazi, the Pecos classification, was developed by archaeologists in 1927. Its accuracy is a matter of dispute, but its broad classification of periods in Anasazi history remains in general use.

The Anasazi, believed to be descendants of ancient Desert Archaic people, are one of the best-known prehistoric cultures of the American Southwest. Different groups of Anasazi spoke at least six languages, which were not mutually understood. The term "Anasazi" derives from an English-language corruption of a Navajo term, Anaasa’zi, which describes the many stone ruins of the Four Corners region and may mean "ancient ones," "enemies of the ancient ones," or "ancient enemy."

The ruins of Awatovi pueblo are spread over approximately 23 acres near the southwestern tip of Antelope Mesa, one of the easterly fingers of the great Black Mesa, in the Jeddito drainage of northeastern Arizona. Situated at an altitude of about 5,600 feet above sea level, it was the easternmost of the Hopi villages. Awatovi was initially founded during the Pueblo III period, at around 1150 c.e. It was continuously occupied until its violent and tragic destruction in 1700. Archaeological excavations were undertaken at the site beginning in 1935 under the direction of J. O. Brew of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. These resulted in the excavation of several hundred rooms of the pueblo and a complete excavation of the mission complex at the site. Awatovi

According to Puebloan lore, the tribe has occupied the Southwest from "time immemorial." Archaeological investigation has proved that the Pueblo nation is descended from the prehistoric Anasazi, or "the Ancient Ones." As the Anasazi abandoned their great population centers at Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, and Kayenta in approximately 1300, the tribe migrated into three main areas. The first was the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico, where they built new settlements, which were still occupied at the time of the Spanish entry into the Southwest around 1540. Most of these areas continued to be settled into the twentieth century.

The kiva first appeared in the Southwest among the prehistoric Mogollon, Hohokam, and Anasazi cultures. The Mogollon were among the first to begin building permanent houses. It is likely that they conceived and developed their architecture themselves, although other Southwest cultures may have influenced them. By circa 100 Common Era (CE), the Mogollon circular pit house consisted of a hole several feet deep, tined with poles and brush to create low sidewalls, and a single center post supported a conical roof. A short, sloping ramp on one side served as an entryway to the pit house, and a hole in the center of the roof provided a vent for the fire pit. As the Mogollon constructed their pit house villages, they usually built an extra deeper, larger structure, which served as the kivatheir ceremonial center.