Customer Reviews

In Search of Chaco: New Approaches to an Archaeological Enigma (Popular Archaeology)

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Chaco Canyon is in the middle of nowhere, a unexceptional canyon in the New Mexico desert where nobody in his right mind would try to make a living. All the more amazing is that this barren place was the center of the Anasazi civilization. The Great House of Pueblo Bonito is the largest pre-historic building north of Mexico, counting 800 rooms and constructed about 1,000 years ago.

Chaco is mysterious and this book of seventeen essays by authorities in several fields explores those mysteries. One is given the point of view of the scholars as well as representatives of the Pueblo, Hopi, and the Navajo Indians. Good charts, maps, and photos, some in color, support the text. Perhaps the most interesting of all the mysteries is how the Anasazi fed themselves in this unpromising environment and a brief sidebar talks about Chaco agriculture -- although not enough.

The most interesting essay in the book is titled "The Chaco Navajos" and is about the coming of the Navajos, the Spaniards, and the Anglos to Chaco Canyon long after the Anasazi had disappeared. Included is a brief account of pioneer archaeologist, Richard Wetherill, killed in a gunfight with a Navajo in 1910. "Richard Wetherill Anasazi" by Frank McNitt is a fine biography of Wetherill, a character worthy of legend.

"In Search of Chaco" is an attractive, up-to-date look at current theories and thinking about Chaco. One suspects there's a lot more to learn. One quibble: I despise the politically correct term "Ancestral Pueblo" used by the scholars for the people who built Chaco. The old and romantic name, "Anasazi," is far preferable.

Smallchief

This book was recommended for my new job as a volunteer at Chaco. It is an excellent read, interesting, beautifully illustrated, without being too technical.

This book is a collection of essays written by various archaeologists who have worked on the ruins of Chaco Culture Historical Site as this place is now known. The book bring all kind of different perceptions and historical takes on this isolated area of New Mexico that once housed a great civilization. I brought this book at Chaco and it came recommended by the park ranger there.

Only problems I see with this book is that despite of the differences in perceptions and opinions, most of these archaeologists don't go beyond the conventional box that fenced them in. Until the last essay, I didn't read much about how warfare, tribal rivalry and violence played the role in ending this civilization. The writers in most parts, blindly accept that Navajo and Hopi Indians are ancestral heirs to the Chacoans. Isn't it possible that the Navajo and Hopi Indians could have been their conquerors instead? Absent of evidence of warfare doesn't mean, there wasn't any. I mentioned this several times during my southwest vacation and got a lot "deer in the headlight" looks from these park rangers. There is almost no mention of hunting ability of the Chaco civilization nor their governmental form. In-order to build these Great Houses, centralized control was needed to gathered the resources. Many of the essays also states that many rooms are too small to housed people and thus, they must be storage rooms. Is that a conjecture? I been to these rooms and I have seen smaller rooms where family of four slept and lived. Poor and serfs don't have much of a choice.

But overall, the book proves to be very informative and very educational. Its a great introductory book on Chaco and I thought it was too bad that I read the book after my visit to Chaco. I would have gain a better insight to Chaco ruins if I read the book prior to my visit. But yet, the book also showed that how no matter how well educated and how much researched been done, people who wrote this book appears to have a hard time thinking outside the box and in some ways, their view of Chacoan people appears to be bit patronizing. As I told one park ranger in my travels, "In all the lands, trade routes are also invasion routes, why not here??" Response: Bambi look!! Still, a good reading material for anyone interested in this subject matter.

This book has been put together and edited by one person. It is written by a number of authors. Each author writes about a different topic. There are also different views about the same topic. Book goes through some of the changes of the canyon and its peoples. Also, the purpose of this particular site. Very Interesting.

Situated at least 20 miles from the nearest paved road, Chaco Canyon lies in a desolate plain equaldistant between Farmington and Grants, New Mexico. It is with sadness that I was unable to explore this wonderful place due to heavy monsoon rains that pelted the area during my vacation there in July of 2010. However, this volume edited by David Noble makes up for this shortfall to a small extent by incorporating narratives from archaeologists, national park offcials and various members of Native American tribes whose ancestors once inhabited this area centuries ago.

For a 130-page book, it is loaded with numerous illustrations and pictures of the great houses that dot Chaco Canyon including Pueblo Bonito and has information on other related places such as Aztec Ruins, Mesa Verde and Hovenweep in eastern Utah. It contains 17 chapters from people offering their perspectives of what went before. Questions that were attempted to be answered include how the pueblo peoples came to settle there in the first place; how they built the great houses; how did they lived and why they left. Without a written language it is hard to say how these events took place with great precision. In my opinion, I would probably trust the oral tradition handed down among the Native Americans.

If anyone is visiting Chaco Culture Historical Park in the future, I would recommend reading this book to get a adequate background on the place. If you visit, make sure you have good struts on you automobile and hope it doesn't rain.