Ancestral Puebloan
noun
variants
or less commonly ancestral Puebloan
plural Ancestral Puebloans also ancestral Puebloans
see usage paragraph below
: a member of a group of prehistoric Indigenous peoples of the canyons of northern Arizona and New Mexico and southwestern Colorado : a member of the Ancestral Pueblo peoples
called also Anasazi
Usage of Anasazi, Ancestral Pueblo, and Ancestral Puebloan
The English word Anasazi comes from a Navajo word meaning "enemy ancestors." Due to this association, Anasazi is now often considered an inappropriate or disrespectful name for a member of these prehistoric peoples or (when used in the plural) for the peoples referred to as a group. The terms Ancestral Pueblo and Ancestral Puebloan are often used as alternative names for the peoples and for an individual member of these peoples, respectively.
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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