The Anasazi are a race of superhumanly powerful humanoid beings worshipped by the original North American tribes of the modern United States and Canada from about 3000 BC when their first sacred sites and communities began to appear into recent times. The Native Americans did not have a very organized pantheon of gods; each Native American tribe from the Algonquin tribes of the Northeast United States to the Eskimo Tribes of the Northwest had numerous names for their gods which varied from tribe to tribe as well as varying names for the native dimension of their gods. However, they did share several of the same stories, legends and traits and several tribes often revered one tutelary deity as their divine creator over all others, usually a member of the pantheon they counted as their divine ancestor, like Tawa and the Pueblo Indians.  Many of the Anasazi still have worshippers today, but they no longer traffic with their worshippers to the extent they did before the European invasions of North America. 

The Anasazi dwell primarily in Shipolo, an extra-dimensional cosmology of worlds adjacent to Earth by Ekutsihimmiyo, a bridge which connects the two realms; an interdimensional nexus between Shipolo and Earth exists somewhere near Mount Rainer in modern Washington with other access points in the Four Corners region of the United States. Shipolo was known by different names among different Native American tribes, such as Olelpanti to the Wintun Indians, Amotken to the Haida Indians and Awahoshu to the Pawnee. According to ancient legends, the mortal descendants of the Anasazi reached Earth through a cave near Mount Taylor in Nevada or by a variety of caves containing worlds that varied by tribe and location. Furthermore, the human worshippers of the Anasazi called their gods by varying names unique and distinct to their individual tribes. The Algonquin tribes had several similar names for Manabozho throughout their lands while the Navaho to the west knew him as Tshohanoi and the Eskimo clans far to the north knew him as Tulugaak or Torngasau. The Anasazi gods no longer actively seek worshippers on Earth, but are still worshipped today. They still appear on Earth on very rare occasion. Owayodota still appears to his mortal protégé, Red Wolf, while Hotamintanio once secreted himself into Asgard to remind Danielle Moonstar of her Cheyenne heritage. 

The precise origin of the Anasazi, like that of all of Earth's pantheons of gods, is shrouded in legend. The earliest known Native American gods were Gitche Manitou, the Great Spirit, and Nokomis, the Earth-Mother. It is believed that Nokomis was actually Gaea, the primordial earth-mother who had survived the destruction of the Elder Gods of Earth by infusing her life into the life-giving essence of the Earth. Many of the Elder Gods had degenerated into demonic status and were destroyed by Atum or had fled Earth for other planes of existence. Atum had been born from Gaea by mating with the sentient biosphere of the Earth known as the Demiurge. Atum later departed the earth after shedding the excess demonic energies of the Elder Gods he had slain; some of these energies becoming demonic beings like Mephisto, Satannish, Mikaboshi and possibly Khlog and the Adversary, a demonic force that takes on typically Native American appearance.

The Anasazi have several varying accounts of their origins as a result of the cultural diversity of their worshippers, and as a result, lack any form of a truly unified pantheon. Several of the Anasazi, such as Hino, Tawa, Hotamintanio and Owayodata share roles in various separate minor tribes of the Anasazi. The Eskimos, for example, revere Sedna, the sea-goddess, as their Great Mother, while some Canadian tribes revere the water-god, Raven, a trickster, as their patron deity. According to a wide majority of accounts ranging from the Navaho to the Algonquin, Manabozho had been cast from Shipolo due to the treachery of his half-brother, Coyote. Manabozho befriended the original Native Americans on Earth and welcomed the Dene, the mortal descendants of the Native American gods to their lands when they traveled to Earth. After doing as much good as he could on Earth, Manabozho was allowed to return back to Shipolo when Gitche Manitou stepped down to allow him to rule in his place over the Anasazi.

Around 1000 AD, Manabozho was approached by Odin, Chieftain of the Asgardian gods, whose Viking worshippers had seized parts of Greenland and Western Canada. Odin had called upon the rulers of the other gods once worshipped on Earth to discuss the threat of the Third Host of the Celestials. The Celestials had threatened to seal off the portals of each of their godly realms unless they promised to stop interfering in mortal affairs. Both Odin and Manabozho in liege with the other god-kings swore to this pledge and even made a vow to Odin to donate the necessary life energies to the Asgardians slain during the Fourth Host of the Celestials. When Thor came to Shipolo to petition a portion of the required life energies as part of this vow, Manabozho saw that a debt had been paid to his realm and offered Thor the necessary energies to restore the slain Asgardian gods to life. As part of this pact, Manabozho gathered with the other godheads to discuss other threats to the gods of Earth. When called upon by Odin, Manabozho sent Tawa to battle the primeval entity Demogorge and later traveled to Asgard when Thanos of the Eternals seized the Infinity Gauntlet.

Many of the worshippers were ousted from their homelands granted to them by their deities when Europeans colonized North America and founded outposts that would become the modern United States and Canada. The Anasazi like the Coatli gods to the South were forbidden to act on behalf of their worshippers due to the pact with the Celestials although Coyote, pressured by the anamaqkui (spirits) of his worshippers lashed out years later before hampered by Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange. The Eskimo gods of the North, however, felt antagonism from extra-dimensional beings known as the Great Beasts who managed to bind them from ever returning to Earth. Eventually they pierced the veils between both worlds that Nelvanna might conceive a child of both human and godly characteristics to serve as a champion against the Great Beasts. This child became Snowbird of Alpha Force, a team of costumed adventurers based in Canada. (It is not entirely sure if these Eskimo gods who lack the physical characteristics of the rest of the Anasazi are on the same order of the Innua of the Anasazi. They could actually be members of the Lenni-Lennapi, but this is uncertain).

Several of the more noble and beneficent deities of the Anasazi have had closer interactions with mortals through Earthly agents. For several years, Owayodata has mentored and guided several generations of warrior braves under the name of Red Wolf, the most recent being William Talltrees. Hino once lent his power to the mortal, Inali Redpath, a SHIELD Agent of Sioux heritage, but when Redpath ran amuck, Thor took it upon himself to confront Hino to remove his godly gift from Redpath.

Relations to Other Pantheons: The connections of the Native American gods to the other pantheons of gods once worshipped on Earth is rather undefined as per the number of connections that can be made in ancient history. As such, it was assumed the Native Americans were the ancestors of Asian nomadic tribes that crossed over into Canada via the Bering Land Bridge during the Ice Age. Modern discoveries suggest that Ancient Chinese and even Polynesian aborigines may also have influenced the races along the West Pacific seaboard. This would indicate that the Anasazi might have have had connections to the Xian of China, the Kami of Japan and the Atua or Kahunas of the Maori people as early as 2000 BC. The Vikings exploration of Northern Canada and Greenland in 1000 AD would have lead to some contact with the Asgardians worshipped by the Norse tribes, and later, Aztec culture at its zenith with their deities encroached upon the southern boundaries of the modern United States around 1300 AD.

==Characteristics== 

Body Type: Humanoid
Avg. Height: 6' 0"
Eyes: Two
Hair: Normal
Skin: Normal
Limbs: Two
Fingers: Five with opposable thumb
Toes: Five
Special Adaptations: The Anasazi or Native American gods are exceptionally long-lived, but they are not immortal like the Olympian gods; they age very slowly upon reaching adulthood, but they are not invulnerable to death. They are physically more durable than human beings; their skin, bone and tissue being three times more durable and dense than similar tissue in human beings.

==Powers== 

Avg. Strength Level: The Anasazi are superhumanly strong with the average male being able to lift (press) about 30 tons under optimal conditions and the average female being able to lift (press) about 25 tons under optimal conditions.
Known Powers: The Anasazi possess superhuman strength, stamina , longevity and resistance to harm. They are also inclined to tap and manipulate mystical and elemental energies for feats of magic, mostly in their kinship with Mother Earth, communicating over long distances, teleporting through dimension barriers and casting spells. The scope of their powers is mostly limited to one object, idea or field, usually tied into their personality. For example, as the Tlingit god of water, Raven has power of water and even over the weather, whereas, Hino, the Algonquin god of thunder can generate storms and manipulate rain and lightning. 
Known Abilities: The Anasazi have a tribal nature similar to their worshippers and as such have skills in hunting, fishing and tracking. They are endowed with a reverence to nature and harmony with the Earth itself.

==Miscellaneous== 

Type of Government: Tribal
Level Of Technology: Magic
Cultural Traits: The Anasazi are worshipped as gods by the Native American tribes through out the United States and Canada. Their society resembles many of the aspects of Pre-Columbian America including homes created from mud, wood and animal-hides, pottery-making and hunting and gathering.
Names of Representatives: Amitolane, Anpao, Chibiabos, Coyote, Hasteoltoi, Hastsezini, Hiawatha, Hino, Hotamintanio, Inktomi, Manabozho, Nokomis, Omamama, Onatah, Owayodata, Pawa, Raven, Sedna, Tawa, Wabasso, et al.

==Trivia==

• According to Tall Oak, a Narragansett Native American: "When the first Europeans arrived, Columbus and his crew, he came and called us Indians, because of the obvious reason, he thought he was in India. But what did we call ourselves before Columbus came? That's the question so often asked. And the thing is, in every single tribe, even today, when we translate the word that we had for ourselves, without knowledge of each other,  it was always something that translated to basically the same thing. In our language, it's Ninuog, or the people, the human beings. That what we called ourselves. So when the Pilgrims arrived here, we knew who we were, but didn't know know who they were. So we called them Awaunageesuck, or the strangers, because they were the ones who were alien, they were the ones we didn't know, but we knew each other. And we were the human beings." (Transcribed from the book, 500 Nations by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr..)
• The Dene are sometimes called the ancestors of the Navaho-Apache Indians; they are similar to the Lenni-Lennapi of the Algonquin-Delaware Indians of the Northeast. To the Navaho, Dene means "people."

==References==

• Book of Goddesses and Heroines by Patricia Monaghan
• 500 Nations by Alvin M. Joseph, Jr.
• Goddesses, Heroes and Shamans by the Editors of Kingfisher Books
• Native American Mythology A-Z by Patricia Ann Lynch
• Native American Myth and Legend by Michael Dixon-Kennedy

==External Links==

• Native American gods at the Appendix to the Marvel Universe
• Native American gods at the Marvel Universe Database

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