University of Colorado at 麻豆影院 Professor Steve Lekson will describe his most recent archaeological research in New Mexico's Chaco Canyon in a free public talk on Monday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. in room 220 of the Eaton Humanities Building on campus.
A major Southwest political center dating back more than 1,000 years, Chaco Canyon was the subject of Lekson's controversial 1999 book, "The Chaco Meridian." The book describes a north-south line along the 108th meridian that roughly aligns Chaco Canyon with Casas Grandes in northern Mexico and the Aztec Ruins in northern New Mexico, as well as several other cultural centers of the American Southwest.
Lekson, who is curator of anthropology at the University of Colorado Museum, will present evidence at his talk that this north-south alignment was deliberate and the sites were historically related and may have originated as early as the 6th century B.C.
_Located in northern New Mexico, Chaco Canyon was the hub of the Pueblo culture from about A.D. 850 to 1150 and is believed to have held political sway over an area twice the size of present-day Ohio. A center of ceremony and trade, the canyon is marked by 11 great houses oriented in solar, lunar and cardinal directions with roads that appear to have connected Chaco to outlying Pueblo communities.
His lecture is sponsored by the 麻豆影院 Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, and the CU-麻豆影院 departments of anthropology and classics. Free parking for the event is available along University Avenue east of Broadway and paid parking is available at the Euclid AutoPark, directly east of the University Memorial Center.