In 1982, University of New Mexico archaeologist David Stuart began writing newspaper columns on Southwestern archaeology. Readers were quickly hooked. This delightful volume reprints many of these columns. It is a layman’s primer, filled with delightful anecdotes about the fantastic ruins of the Southwest and the archaeologists who study them.
Stuart demystifies the famous sites of Chaco Canyon, Bandelier, and Mesa Verde, but more importantly he focuses on little known sites and cultures like the Mogollon and Mimbres. Each column unravels a small part of the Native American legacy, from the Paleo-Indians of Clovis and Folsom, New Mexico to the modern Pueblos. Hunter-gathers evolved into ancient farmers who tended crops of corn, beans, and squash. Settlements became larger and more complex, culminating in the Chacoan system of the 12th century A.D. that included many towns connected somehow to the center.
Stuart’s Ancient Southwest is a tapestry of science, legend, and adventure that entraps the reader in the 13,000 year history of the American Southwest.
