The Anasazi Indians were ancestors of the Pueblo Indians who continue to live in the Western part of the United States today. They were originally a basket making society and lived in underground pits. They began to build pueblos (above-ground buildings) because their culture was based on agriculture and they had little need to move. The Anasazi are often called “cliff dwellers” because they built apartment-like homes in the sides of canyons or cliffs that were chosen for their flat tops, called “mesas” (Spanish for table). The Anasazi lived near the bottom of the canyon floors and cultivated their crops on the top of the mesas. Crops consisted of squash, beans, corn, tobacco, and cotton. Meat came from turkeys, deer and mountain sheep.