This is an online event.
Sponsored by: Archaeological Institute of America
The stunning monumental buildings in Chaco Canyon have yielded some of the most amazing artifacts ever found in ancient North Americat. Thousands of turquoise ornaments, copper bells and chocolate from Mesoamerica, and shell trumpets from the Pacific Ocean are just some of the rare and beautiful objects found by archaeologists in the 1,000-year-old edifices of this remote canyon. But while today we marvel at these treasures, what did they mean to the ancient Puebloan people who lived in the Chaco World?
Dr. John Kantner has spent almost three decades conducting archaeological investigations of Chaco Canyon and the villages that helped to sustain the thriving pilgrimage center. Much of his work considers what was valuable to Chaco-era people and how wealth may have been used in the past. In this illustrated lecture, Dr. Kantner discusses what we know about Chacoan notions of wealth and value, and how these concepts may have changed over time.
Short bibliography and/or website on lecture topic:
Chaco Research Archive, http://www.chacoarchive.org/cra/
Clark, Jeffery J. and Barbara J. Mills (editors). 2018. Chacoan archaeology at the 21st Century: New Questions and Ongoing Revelations. Special issue of Archaeology Southwest Magazine. Vol. 32 Nos. 2–3.
Kantner, John. 2004. Ancient Puebloan Southwest. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
New Mexico History.org, http://newmexicohistory.org/places/chaco-canyon
Please note: Registration for this lecture is now closed. A recording will be made available, please check back for details.
The AIA is North America's largest and oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to archaeology. The Institute advances awareness, education, fieldwork, preservation, publication, and research of archaeological sites and cultural heritage throughout the world. Your contribution makes a difference.
