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.
Examples of Ancestral Puebloan in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
This never felt more poignant to me than at House on Fire, which is actually not the remains of a house, but of ancient granaries constructed by the Ancestral Puebloan people.
—
Maya Silver,
Outside,
20 Jan. 2026
The skull was taken from a site dating to the Basketmaker culture, which Boomgarden told Cowboy State Daily does not reference a particular tribe, but a time period of a pre-Ancestral Puebloan culture that lived across southern Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.
—
Virginia Chamlee,
PEOPLE,
11 Dec. 2025
Meanwhile, famed utopian designer Paolo Soleri was still drafting concepts for Arcosanti, an energy-efficient community with passive solar concepts at its heart (Soleri has said he was directly inspired by Ancestral Puebloan designs).
—
Austin Corona,
AZCentral.com,
7 Dec. 2025
Surrounded by sprawling farmland, Yucca House National Monument is an unexcavated Ancestral Puebloan site.
—
Jennifer Broome,
Denver Post,
22 Aug. 2025
There isn’t exactly one piece of ceramic ware that stands out among the many archaeologists have found dating to the Ancestral Puebloan people.
—
Joshua Rapp Learn,
Discover Magazine,
19 Apr. 2024
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Maya Silver,
Outside,
20 Jan. 2026
The skull was taken from a site dating to the Basketmaker culture, which Boomgarden told Cowboy State Daily does not reference a particular tribe, but a time period of a pre-Ancestral Puebloan culture that lived across southern Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.
—
Virginia Chamlee,
PEOPLE,
11 Dec. 2025
Meanwhile, famed utopian designer Paolo Soleri was still drafting concepts for Arcosanti, an energy-efficient community with passive solar concepts at its heart (Soleri has said he was directly inspired by Ancestral Puebloan designs).
—
Austin Corona,
AZCentral.com,
7 Dec. 2025
Surrounded by sprawling farmland, Yucca House National Monument is an unexcavated Ancestral Puebloan site.
—
Jennifer Broome,
Denver Post,
22 Aug. 2025
There isn’t exactly one piece of ceramic ware that stands out among the many archaeologists have found dating to the Ancestral Puebloan people.
—
Joshua Rapp Learn,
Discover Magazine,
19 Apr. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Ancestral Puebloan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Ancestral%20Puebloan. Accessed 4 Jul. 2026.
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