 Contrary to the name, the Aztecs of central Mexico did not build these structures. Early Anglo settlers, convinced that the ruins were of Aztec origin, misnamed the site. The name persisted. Now we know that the people archeologists call "Anasazi" lived here and in the surrounding region. Their descendants, the Puebloan peoples, live in parts of New Mexico and Arizona today.
Aztec's 200-year history of inhabitation was influenced by two centers of Anasazi culture. Sixty five miles south lay Chaco, a narrow canyon whose floor was filled with structures built over several centuries. During the 1000s and 1100s, Chaco exerted widespread influence as an economic and ceremonial center throughout the 25,000-square-mile San Juan Basin.
By the late 1000s , Aztec joined many other outlying settlements which exhibited Chacoan style architecture, ceramics, and connecting roads. Their residents participated in what archeologists call the Chaco Phenomenon, an extensive social and economic system which reached far beyond the canyon walls at Chaco. With the collapse of this system in the mid 1100s, life changed at Aztec.
A few decades later, people culturally akin to the dwellers of the rugged Mesa Verde country forty miles northwest occupied this area. This second group remodeled the old buildings, using techniques characteristic of the Mesa Verde region. They were farmers and hunters as were the earlier Chacoans, and they prospered for a few generations. But by 1300 they moved on, as did other inhabitants of the region. Today, the Puebloan peoples maintain a rich culture influenced by their ancestors who once occupied this broad expanse.
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