Customer Reviews

The Chaco Meridian: Centers of Political Power in the Ancient Southwest

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What marvelous ideas are incorporated into this model of a regional ideological "plan" for the prehistoric SW! As a teacher who regularly takes my classes to Casas Grandes, I would applaud Lekson; and take those to task who chop the Mimbres off at the NM/Mex. border--the strong presence of Mimbres as far south as Casas & vicinity is another strong point in favor of Lekson's idea. The mark of a really good hypothesis is that it makes one THINK long after the reading is done. I still find myself, months after the first reading, pondering the linguistic implications: was there a "lingua franca" for the SW in which this meridian-if it existed-was the "noon sun line" (the "central place" in the SW region)? The sun dagger at Chaco might back that up. If so, was the edge of the Plains the "sunrise boundary" and the Pacific the "sunset boundary? Is it even possible that, along with cognitive maps to get from central Mexico to the 4 Corners, the ancients actually understood that the watersheds flowed east OR west from this general meridian?? Wow. Lekson has been decades in formulating the concept; lets hope it is taken further. We constantly need reminded that sites aren't isolated; they belonged to much greater cultures--Lekson is a thinker with the big picture.

hintzer@msn.com from Virginia, USA , 21 May, 1999 Provides provocative new views of the Anasazi culture A book that breaks the mold of most published archaeology literature. "The Chaco Meridian" takes an entertaining world view approach to the Anasazi culture, building a case for long distance interaction between Chaco, Paquime and further south into Mexico. Lekson presents information in a way that is refreshing and thought provoking (the book was difficult to put down once I began to read). Lekson discusses architectural and archaeological relationships that appear to be very obvious, yet he is one of the first to openly package Chaco, Aztec, Paquime and the general southwestern US into a common culture, and make these ideas available to the general public. There are no geopolitcal or academic borders in this book. Thanks for the good reading !

A thought provoking book that in a subtle fashion entertains as well as compels the reader to turn the page for the next surprise. Yet, Leskon's case for an elite Pueblo group makes sense if one can forget or put aside the static approach to previous Pueblo research. Leskon mixes and stirs data that has been available for years and in the end wraps it into a package that attempts to describe the Pueblo culture through time rather than a series of start and stop/boom and bust cultures. Finally, someone steps forward and takes a chance. The mechanics of the Chaco, Aztec, Paquime sequence is nicely presented and a strong case is made, yet the story leaves one hanging with respect to the whys, and where did it all begin and end. Includes a surprising and good comparison with the Mississippian culture, albeit short (perhaps the subject of another book). Thank you for the good read!

Lekson, an expert on Southwestern archaeology, presents a provocative thesis about the civilization that produced the great houses in New Mexico's Chaco Canyon. He proposes that Chaco Canyon was one of three successive capitals of a politically integrated region. According to Lekson, a ruling elite emerged at Chaco and perpetuated itself by moving a ceremonial city along Chaco's meridian. Lekson writes in an engaging and often deliberately provocative style. This is as fun as serious archaeology gets, though Lekson sometimes repeats his points. The book is well illustrated with diagrams and black and white photographs.

Wow! In thirty years of Southwest archaeology and Chaco literature, Stephen Lekson has written the best treatise on what may be (or was) called the Chaco Phenomenum.

Well researched and presented conversationally, Lekson clearly outlines the evidence for a pan-Southwest Chacoan influence. Lekson speaks as colleague might, visiting in your home, sitting before the fireplace creating a logical system for "Chacoan hegemony". Air castles among friends.

Never be misled by Lekson's wordplay, "...the political structure of the Greater Southwest was a case of macaws and effect." It is his way of gently exposing an embarassing blindspot in the thinking of the old "Wise Men" of archaeology. Likewise his metaphor that "feathers are fluff compared to real stuff..." is a way of re-introducing the reader to the real significance of exotics.

Lekson echoes a Smithsonian Institute remark that the "history of the human race can be summed in the phrase, 'When do we eat?'" (Lekson, discussing Chaco as a redistribution center for surplus, "Beyond the Basin, local networks presumably took care of the perennial local problen: What's for dinner?)

Finally, Lekson is a master of the apt metaphor - "If Chaco is the bete noire of the Southwest, (Pueblo) Bonito is the the black hole. It sucks in astonishing amounts of interest, enegy, and resources..."

This book, like Bonito, will suck you in. Unquestionable the best read on Southwestern Archaeology since Wormington.

An excellent book for both students and professional archaeologists interested in the prehistory of the Southwest. His analysis of the Chaco outliers leads to a new formulation for the role of "downtown Chaco." Be prepared for the concept of a "Chaco Hegemony" based upon the outliers - a wonderful explanation. He integrates Pueblo oral history to add color to his model. Easy to read. Highly recommended.

Steve Lekson has created a book of immense power and importance that is both a challenge to current archaeological thinking and a pleasure to read! If Lekson's precepts are correct, then a major new chapter in Southwestern archaeology has just opened. Although I must disagree with many of his view points (I am "a remarkably, even perverse" (p.45) archaeologist and one of the perpetrators of the "Chaco is a Dairy Queen Outlier" bumper stickers (p.28), the book challenges even my Mesa Verdean sensabilities (Steve once called me a "like-minded heritic" so I expect that he would expect me to disagree with him along the line, as heretics do!). In short, I am not a Chacoanist and am sceptical of all things Chaco. Yet reading Lekson's new work is stimulating, and almost made a believer out of a stodgy old Mesa Verdean like me! Highly recommended, useful, energetic, and MAYBE correct!

The Chaco Meridian is strictly for those already familiar with studies and locations in Southwestern archaeology. The author's theory about a common meridian linking Chaco and Aztec (N.M.) and Casas Grandes (Mexico) is interesting and well-argued, but far-fetched.
The book is cluttered with hundreds of references placed in middle of the text, which make for choppy reading. Many of the references are to Dr. Lekson's own work.
Four Corners archaeology has been studied by many, many scientists for many, many years. The result is a cloud of literature which turns over stone after stone; potsherd after potsherd, attempting to justify the cost of each new study. There is lots of dust, not much pure light.
Dr. Lekson raises more dust, pointing out the coincidence of three major sites on (almost) the same meridian. Hundreds of other sites don't line up with anything. One can connect any two sites with a straight line. Extended far enough, the line will probably strike something else. My hometown is on almost the same meridian as Oklahoma City and Waco. So?
To his credit, Dr. Lekson gently slams the fetish of Chaco astro-archaeology and its limitless imagined alignments of doorways and rocks with certain stars on certain nights. Most of the "alignments" are pure Hohokam. The bend of a creek (we don't have mountains around here) viewed from my attic window lines up perfectly with sunrise on May 17. You have to stand on a chair in just the right spot to make everything line up. Is this a magic place, or what?
I'd like to give Dr. Lekson five stars for this clever work, but it grinds too fine.

I was alerted to Lekson and this book in the course of reading "House of Rain" by Craig Childs, which touched on many different theories concerning the Anasazi in the Southwest. In a way, that tip was the most important piece of information I got from Childs's book. I don't mean to disparage "House of Rain" (I reviewed it and gave it four stars), but THE CHACO MERIDIAN has been a real treat to read.

Other reviews outline Lekson's hypothesis. I certainly do not have the background to evaluate that hypothesis on professional or academic grounds. I understand that much of what Lekson has to say is controversial, maybe even heretical, but if I were to bet, I would place a small sum on Lekson vis-a-vis the academy. THE CHACO MERIDIAN strikes me as thoughtful, sound reasoning (I won't say "sound science", because I don't believe archaeology is pure science; it is equally akin to history). And it is eminently readable. If only other books by academics were as readable, I -- and probably many other interested lay readers -- would know a lot more about the "pre-history" of the American Southwest.

Pendulums swing, and sometimes sharply, in Ancestral Puebloan studies in general and Chaco studies in particular.

Although Lekson some older threads of thought together in a new way, the exact nature of Chaco-Casas Grandes connection is still debated; probably which name to use for the site is still being debated.

And, that said, Lekson outrightly contradicts himself once.

Page 140, he said outlying evidence gives no indication climate played a role in Chaco's demise. Page 158, he says a drought threw regional sustenance into chaos and Chaco could not cope.

Which is it?

An error like that could almost get a a book three-starred.

That said, there's enough good stuff here to keep four stars. But not five.

For a good five-star book focused just on Chaco and its definite area of control and influence, read David Stuart's "Anasazi America."