The continuing work of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center has focused on community life in the northern Southwest during the Great Pueblo period (AD 1150– 1300). Researchers have been able to demonstrate that during the last Puebloan occupation of the area the majority of the population lived in dispersed communities and large villages of the Great Sage Plain, rather than at nearby Mesa Verde. The work at Sand Canyon Pueblo and more than sixty other large contemporary pueblos has examined reasons for population aggregation and why this strategy was ultimately forsaken in favor of a migration south of the San Juan River, leaving the area depopulated by 1290.
Contributors to this volume, many of whom are distinguished southwestern researchers, draw from a common database derived from extensive investigations at the 530-room Sand Canyon Pueblo, intensive test excavations at thirteen small sites and four large villages, a twenty-five square kilometer full-coverage survey, and an inventory of all known villages in the region. Topics include the context within which people moved into villages, how they dealt with climatic changes and increasing social conflict, and how they became increasingly isolated from the rest of the Southwest.
Seeking the Center Place is the most detailed view we have ever had of the last Pueblo communities in the Mesa Verde region and will provide a better understanding of the factors that precipitated the migration of thousands of people.
The Mesa Verde region is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and is an area fraught with complexities, anomalies, and layers of histories. Sushi in Cortez is a collection of essays by an interdisciplinary group of academics, artists, and cultural observers that explores this diverse landscape and heritage by combining and sharing the differing perspectives provided by various disciplines. Poetry, film, environmental philosophy, nature photography, native Pueblo perspectives, and archaeology are used to touch on the common questions people ask about the value of their work and lives as well as the value of visiting ancient sites such as Mesa Verde. The authors share personal stories about the difficulties, joys, confusions, and epiphanies they experienced as they crossed the boundaries of their professional lives, coming to understand how incomplete any single rendition of place can be. Find additional images on our website www.uofupress.com.
Take a look inside the authors’ Mesa Verde experience in this short film,“Location Fracture” by Melinda Levin.
Winner of the Don D. and Catherine S. Fowler Prize
Winner of the Linda S. Cordell Prize
The “abandonment” of Mesa Verde and the formation of the Rio Grande Pueblos represent two classic events in North American prehistory. Yet, despite a century of research, no consensus has been reached on precisely how, or even if, these two events were related. In this landmark study, Scott Ortman proposes a novel and compelling solution to this problem through an investigation of the genetic, linguistic, and cultural heritage of the Tewa Pueblo people of New Mexico.
Integrating data and methods from human biology, linguistics, archaeology, and cultural anthropology, Ortman shows that a striking social transformation took place as Mesa Verde people moved to the Rio Grande, such that the resulting ancestral Tewa culture was a unique hybrid of ideas and practices from various sources. While addressing several long-standing questions in American archaeology, Winds from the North also serves as a methodological guidebook, including new approaches to integrating archaeology and language based on cognitive science research. As such, it will be of interest to researchers throughout the social and human sciences.
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