The White House was build by the Anasazi and is today part of the Canyon de Chelly National Monument. The Anasazi were the inhabitants of what is now known as the Four Corners area of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. They lived there from around 1 A.D. to around 1200 A.D. A division is made between Western and Eastern Anasazi, but there are some common features such as black on white pottery, the late appearance of villages compared to other cultures such as the Hohokam, the importance of the hunt, the use of water control systems and the systems of trade and communication.<BR> The division between West and East then is made because of some differences that occur such as the differences in architecture. The east is compact and cellular, while the west has rooms around plazas. <BR> Hunting deer, elk and rabbit along with fishing and gathering nuts and berries were the most common. But while hunting and gathering were still important, agriculture became also more important in some places. Corn was the first crop cultivated. Around the year 1000 agriculture intensified. The fields used to be used until nothing would grow anymore. But due to the new water management techniques fields became richer and could be used more intensively. <BR> <BR> Alfonso Ortiz vol. ed.: "Handbook of North American Indians - vol. 9 Southwest" (1979 Smithsonian Institution Washington) (p. 108-109, 111-112)<BR> <BR> Postcards <BR> Theme: Archaeological<BR> <BR> When Hernando de Soto set foot in Florida in 1539 he found villages that resembled those of the Aztec in Mexico, here the search for gold began. One year later Francisco de Coronado would reach the Southwest of what today are the United States. He was searching for the legendary “Seven Cities of Cibola”, looking for gold that did not exist. 300 years later other explorers would reach the same regions, looking for gold and more.<BR> During the end of the 19th century archeological sites became more and more noted by people traveling trough the country. Soon people began to visit them.<BR> Expeditions, mostly private initiatives, consisting of scientists, writers and photographers visited the sites. In the Soutwest, for example, they became enchanted by the clifdwellings and their lost civilizations. Soon after, accounts of their adventures were publicized in newspapers and reports. The public’s attention was drawn to the different archeological areas and with the railroads expanding trough the country that same public went to visit the sites themselves. <BR> The legend of the “Seven Cities of Cibola” also made people go to archeological areas, and with them often came permanent settlement. <BR> During the end of the century tourism was well established in the archeological areas. Unfortunately visitors started to loot the sites and concern for the different sites began to grow. Nationally and regionally people joined together to protect the sites from looting and digging. <BR> Their effort was not lost. In June 1906 President Teddy Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act. The sites were now protected by the government from looting and digging. The signing of the Act also caused the general public to get interested in archeology on the different sites. Public programs were started to take care of the artifacts and to study the different sites.<BR> With the Great Depression of the 1930s archeology profited greatly from the New Deal. The purpose of the New Deal was to provide relief to a part of the population and to reform the economic system. Thousands of people were put to work on sites throughout the country. Now in stead of only artifacts whole villages and mounds were excavated. For the first time community and house plans were looked at. Large quantities of artifacts were excavated until the beginning of World War II when people were put to work in factories. The New Deal had a large impact even until far after World War II. Even today materials found during the 1930s are used in reports of investigation. <BR> <BR> Pieter Hovens: Indianen van Noord-Amerika (1977 Van Gorcum, Assen/Amsterdam) p. 52, 53<BR> Duane A. Smith: Mesa Verde National Park – Shadows of the Centuries (1988 University Press of Kansas) p. 10, 13-15<BR> www.cr.nps.gov/local-law/anti1906.htm (10-8-2006)<BR> www.cr.nps.gov/archeology/cg/vol_2num1/commit.htm (17-8-2006)<BR> www.cr.nps.gov/archeology//SITES/Antiquities/about.htm (18-8-2006)<BR> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#United_States (18-8-2006)<BR>