This documentary by History Forge tells the story of the Ancestral Puebloans, formerly known as the Anasazi -- a Navajo term their Hopi heirs prefer to leave behind. From the first century BCE to the Great Abandonment of 1300 CE, these farmers and architects built one of the most remarkable civilisations in pre-Columbian America.

Ancestral ruins at Mesa Verde, Colorado
Ancestral ruins at Mesa Verde (Colorado) -- one of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan sites. These structures housed up to 1,000 people in the 13th century. © Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The documentary covers the key stages of this civilisation: the agricultural beginnings in the Four Corners basin (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona), the rise of cliff cities between 800 and 1200 CE, the role of Chaco Canyon as a ceremonial and commercial centre, and the controversies surrounding the sudden abandonment of sites around 1300 CE -- drought, conflict, social reorganisation.

A documented and respectful look at a people whose descendants -- Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo nations -- still live in the American Southwest today.

Documentary "Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloans) | Native American Documentary" -- History Forge, YouTube.