Question

Which statement about Ancestral Pueblo homes is true? Adobe homes were built using poured concrete. Homes were built into caves and cracks in cliff walls. Wooden homes were preferred to adobe homes.

Answer 1

The correct answer is B: Homes were built into caves and cracks in cliff walls.

The Ancestral Pueblo was an ancient Native American culture that covered the contemporary geographical regions of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado in the United States. The Ancestral Pueblo culture is perhaps best known for the stone and earth constructions and buildings the Pueblo people used to build inside cliff walls, particularly during 900 to 1350 A.D. These constructions were particularly used by the Pueblo people to protect their ancient culture and their community.

The ancient population centers consisted of apartment-like caves made particularly from stone, adobe mud, and other local material, and were also carved into the sides of cliff walls. The rooms inside these structures were mostly blocks of hard sandstone held together with adobe mortar. They were all very similar inside, but they generally had unique forms due to the singular topography or natural shapes these canyon walls had. Pueblo buildings were divided in different boxes, one on top of the others, and were used mainly for storage and defense, living and even religious ceremonies, among other things. Generally, there were no doors on the bottom floors of these structures so movable ladders were key elements in these limited places since inhabitants could move from one floor to another without any problem.