In Search of Chaco: New Approaches to an Archaeological Enigma

by David Grant Noble

Overview

Startling discoveries and impassioned debates have emerged from the "Chaco Phenomenon" since the publication of New Light on Chaco Canyon twenty years ago. This completely updated edition features seventeen original essays, scores of photographs, maps, and site plans, and the perspectives of archaeologists, historians, and Native American thinkers. Key topics include the rise of early great houses; the structure of agricultural life among the people of Chaco Canyon; their use of sacred geography and astronomy in organizing their spiritual cosmology; indigenous knowledge about Chaco from the perspective of Hopi, Tewa, and Navajo peoples; and the place of Chaco in the wider world of archaeology.

For more than a century archaeologists and others have pursued Chaco Canyon's many and elusive meanings. In Search of Chaco brings these explorations to a new generation of enthusiasts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781930618428
Publisher:	School for Advanced Research Press
Publication date:	08/01/2004
Series:	A School for Advanced Research Popular Archaeology Book
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	158
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	vii
	Preface	xiii
	Acknowledgments	xv
	A Chaco Canyon Chronology	xvi
1	Chaco's Golden Century	1
2	Puebloan Farmers of the Chacoan World	7
3	The Rise of Early Chacoan Great Houses	14
4	Architecture: The Central Matter of Chaco Canyon	22
5	Artifacts in Chaco: Where They Came From and What They Mean	32
	Sidebar: Chaco's Corn: Where Was It Grown?	38
6	Yupkoyvi: The Hopi Story of Chaco Canyon	41
7	A Pueblo Woman's Perspective on Chaco Canyon	48
8	Tse Biyah 'Anii'ahi: Chaco Canyon and Its Place in Navajo History	54
9	The Chaco Navajos	61
10	Great-House Communities and the Chaco World	70
11	Chaco's Sacred Geography	78
12	Sacred Time in Chaco Canyon and Beyond	86
13	Understanding Chacoan Society	93
14	Chaco Canyon: A View from the Outside	100
15	The Mesa Verde Region: Chaco's Northern Neighbor	107
16	A Century of Archaeology in Chaco Canyon	116
17	Key Debates in Chacoan Archaeology	123
	Suggested Reading	131
	Picture Credits	132
	Index	134