University of Colorado archaeologist Stephen Lekson rocked the archaeological world in 1999 with the first edition of this work. In it he sets forth a general theory of Chaco Canyon, the exceptional native site in northwestern New Mexico that dominated the Southwest from about A.D. 1000 to 1150. The theory proposes that a powerful elite determined the fate of cities across time and space. Beginning in desolate Chaco Canyon, the epicenter shifted north to the well- watered Aztec Ruin in northern New Mexico, then south to Paquimé in northern Mexico over a 500 year period. All three centers are located on a north-south line—the Chaco Meridian—which was central to their cosmology.
When The Chaco Meridian first appeared 15 years ago, it set off a spirited debate that triggered new thinking about Southwestern archaeology. New research followed that built on Lekson’s work. In this edition, Lekson presents much of the latest research and ruminating about the Anasazi world. He urges the reader not to look east to the Rio Grande pueblos, but south to Mexico for answers to the Chaco conundrum. In an all new appendix, Lekson explains his thesis that the Chaco system was a local adaptation of a well-established Mexican political and organizational system—the altepetl.
This new edition brings fresh insights to the debate over the shape and scope to Chaco Canyon and its successor centers. Challenging conventional wisdom, Lekson forces the archaeological community to seek new ways of looking at the American Southwest.
