Anasazi America: Seventeen Centuries on the Road from Center Place

by David E. Stuart

At the height of their power in the late eleventh century, the Chaco Anasazi dominated a territory in the American Southwest larger than any European principality of the time. A vast and powerful alliance of thousands of farming hamlets and nearly 100 spectacular towns integrated the region through economic and religious ties, and the whole system was interconnected with hundreds of miles of roads. It took these Anasazi farmers more than seven centuries to lay the agricultural, organizational, and technological groundwork for the creation of classic Chacoan civilization, which lasted about 200 years--only to collapse spectacularly in a mere 40. Why did such a great society collapse? Who survived? Why? In this lively book anthropologist/archaeologist David Stuart presents answers to these questions that offer useful lessons to modern societies. His account of the rise and fall of the Chaco Anasazi brings to life the people known to us today as the architects of Chaco Canyon, the spectacular national park in New Mexico that thousands of tourists visit every year.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native American, American History, Archaeology, Native American History, Anthropology

264 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2000

About the author

David E. Stuart is professor and associate provost at the University of New Mexico. He is broadly trained in both anthropology and archaeology. His previous books include Prehistoric New Mexico (with R.P. Gauthier), Glimpses of the Ancient Southwest, and The Magic of Bandelier National Monument. His passion is undergraduate teaching.

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eye opening book on the history of the peoples of the American southwest, something I previously knew little about. Interesting to look at the development of the successive cultures, and how they continually had to adapt to their environment, especially regarding drought conditions; and to then apply that insight to our modern civilization, cities like Phoenix, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and so on. It seems that after millenia of living there, the modern Pueblo peoples have found the best way of living in that climate, in terms of their architecture, farming, and social systems, even their spiritual life perhaps.

Writing this review several years after having read the book, and during the increasing drought going on in the West, it really makes one wonder what the Four Corners region will look like in 100 years, and if lessons learned by the Puebloans after hundreds of years of real-life testing can't be applied to this problem. If we could humble ourselves so to learn from "mere Indians" is the question we must ask; and it's sad that we have to ask it, when their solutions are so clearly laid before us.

Anyway, three years after reading, that's what stuck with me, even though the comparisons to modern America weren't even close to the main drive of this book. Read it mainly for the fascinating history, but do also ponder the implications.

[River James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started this twice because of who gave it to me but ended up quitting because it is just too dry and the conclusions to hubristic. Archaeology is too often a projection into the past of the culture and person doing the science and making the hypothesis which is just fine when that is first and foremost acknowledged. Anasazi America is attempting to draw parallels between two cultures, ours at the turn of the century/millennium and another of which we only have the physical remains (no language, religion, philosophy). And this is done in a manner that assumes objectivity where none can be. The trick of texts like this, in my opinion, is to make it so overly and dryly explained that you get numbed into agreeing. I'd much rather read an iconoclast or boldly opinionated writer/scientist who acknowledges their own subjectivity and runs with it. So I get a lot more out of reading: Stephen Lekson, David Roberts, R.E. Brurrillo.

[Cary Neeper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone concerned about the direction of current events. Stuart makes a poignant comparison with New Mexico's Four Corners Native American history--why the efficient society, the Puebloans, survived the "challenge of evolution" and the powerful, less efficient society of the Chacoans did not. One of the most telling points was the deep division of labor and wealth in the two societies.

[David Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an academic work, yet highly readable and interesting, especially to one with a home in the Southwest. I have visited most of the ruins described in the book, but never had a time sequence to put them togther. This book provided it, and not I'd like to return to Chaco and other sites with a more "chronological" approach.

As luck woiuld have it, Professor Stuart attended our Men's Book Group earlier this week and we had a wonderful discussion about the history of the Pueblo peoples and the parallels that he cleverly and amnazingly draws between the fall of the Anasazi culture and our own current state of affairs in America. But I won't put spoilers here.

As a physician I was amazed at the data that can be obtained on population health from archeology work. The author's ability to articulate life expectancy and nutritional status by income, age, and geographic location was unexpectyed and very educational to me.

[Lori Gafner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not studied archeology and though this book was written for those with a basic knowledge of the history of the four corners region, I found it readable and fascinating! I live in the west so am well aware of the role water plays in the wests development; exploring its impact on civilization since the 700s (approx when the books history starts) helped explain the ebbs and flows of early development. The comparisons to European culture at similar points in time were quite interesting. Thinking of change, both cultural, climate, in 100 or 200 year increments helped bring perspective to our current world view.
Dive in! Its worth it!

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating bits of history/archeology with an interesting thesis: growing societies are unstable and prone to collapse. Despite largely agreeing with the author's views, the last chapter was a argumentative and political essay on present day America which made the rest of the book harder to trust. (Although maybe it shouldn't have, I like to think that I appreciate politically-engaged scientists.)

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is perfect for anyone interested in the Anasazi and/or Ancestral Puebloans. It is written in a way that anyone can enjoy and understand. It was an easy and very interesting read and feel that I learned quite a bit.

[Pablo Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book that gives insight as to why the Chacoan society was able to establish a huge empire in NW New Mexico and why it failed. This book follows in depth the Anasazi as they move to the valley of the Rio Grande and become the Pueblo peoples we know today.

[SA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice history of Chaco and Pueblo culture. For me, I could do without the social commentary and comparison to modern day America.

[Lowrie Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye Opemer

Lots of amazing things I didn't know , but now do. I fell in love with Daniel's bloody fingers and Folsom point. Thanks, David Stuart.

[Xarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, a required book for a graduate level course focusing mainly on the present-day Pueblo tribes in the Southwest (Anthropology 615: Southwest Ethnology - Pueblo at Northern Arizona University). Granted, it felt like a bit of a stretch to relate the book (a brief archaeological history of the Chacoans) to the present-day Native American descendants, but the connection is there: a number of these tribes claim cultural affiliation with the Chacoan Anasazi (or Ancestral Puebloans).

It was interesting to see the development of the Chacoan culture from the PaleoIndian period to their transformation into the modern Pueblos. It’s a great text for non-archaeologists wanting to understand more about the past (also another good reason why archaeology is important).

David Stuart ties in the collapse of the Chacoan society with the (very likely) collapse of present-day America. Okay. I can see correlations between the two: the Chacoans, being agriculturalists, were extremely concerned with climatic changes. They had ceremonies and beliefs set around the need for rain for their crops. When droughts it, they failed to adapt and their society collapsed. Today, we still rely on farming to get our food, however, the majority of Americans are not farmers, and probably most of that majority doesn’t even think of where exactly their food came from. We run the same risk of losing everything if the climate changes drastically.

Or do we? Stuart emphasizes the need for American culture to change, to look beyond our stuck-up noses and realize that if certain terrible things happen (such as all the farmers quitting or the disparity between the rich and poor getting larger and larger), we run the risk of our lives collapsing around us. His argument does have some good points, but I don’t completely agree with them simply because one cannot really compare modern-day American life (complete with all the technology and international relations) to the ancient Chacoans (who did have wonderful technological advancements and relations with native tribes from the California coast to the Gulf of Mexico).

What is our risk of collapsing? Would we band together, forming strong community ties, to adjust our ways of living in a stressful situation? Would we impose on those other countries with which we have ties with to get us through a collapse? It does make one think of what we, as individuals would do, and what we would do (or not do) as a community to save ourselves. Still, I’d recommend this book more for the archaeology than the thought-provoking notions (but, that’s me... being the archaeologist I am).

[David Robertus · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the more detailed archaeological books I have had the pleasure to read. The authors academic background clearly has embraced more than just cataloging pottery shard; the breadth of information- pottery, language groups and dialects, caloric resources, dietary robustness, social distinctions, a HUGE catalog of studies of sites, all correlated by date and location, range, climate, agricultural methodologies and religion make this one of the best topical books I have read. I read a review that complained that this book had little to do with current conditions of Pueblo and Navajo tribes as they stand today. That assessment is shocking in its ignorance. To recognize the now one must understand the path to now, and the values established along the way; this the author does, including casting current tribal priorities into a modern light, explaining and very well justifying actions and priorities that to modern American eyes may seem quaint, but in fact represent an understanding of the region and of endurance at a cultural level beyond the range of that which our young, power driven society has had to contend with.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stuart gives a good, basic explanation for the collapse of the "Chaco phenomenon." (He doesn't use the word, but you could say, even, as I felt, the collapse of the "Chaco state.") He then looks how a temporary change for the better in climate and some reorganization let Mesa Verdeans make a short stab at replacing Chaco's spread befor that collapsed itself a bit more than a century later.

From there, he doesn't stop. He leads readers into the beginnings of the Pueblo IV era of the ancestral Puebloans and to the dawn of modern Pueblos, and their emergence into Western history.

Stuart is not afraid to draw parallels and point out lessens that modern American inhabitants of the Southwest fail to -- or refuse to -- learn but at their own peril. And I am in total agreement on this part of the book, too, while noting that with nearly a decade since its writing, the rich-poor gap in the U.S. has but expanded, not decreased.

That said, even if you don't agree with his modern sociopolitical analysis, you've got plenty to learn from this book.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book deals with a lot of archaeological detail about the Anasazi society, but it also shows parallels in todays world, so I would recommend it to everyone. It is really amazing how David Stuarts shows how anasazi culture from nearly a millenium ago is mirrored by our society today. One scary aspect of this book is that it was written ten years ago and somewhat predicts what has happened in the past few years based on the similarities between our culture and the Anasazi culture.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great survey of the Chaco society and of some of the parallel issues in contemporary America. The last chapter, especially made a lot of important points about what our society is facing. The book is better written in the second half, and gets more and more engaging as you get further into it.

[Mkwiemers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Be ready for an incredible journey. This book is written like a doctorate thesis and as you absorb the drilling detail of evidence, the results may change your life perspective on the values of humanity and what it takes to be a sustainable culture.

[Tattered Cover Book Store]

This book was recomended by author Dan Flores as part of the Rocky Mountain Land Library's "A Reading List For the President Elect: A Western Primer for the Next Administration."

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strangely moving book, very much in the vein of Guns, Germs, and Steel. Read this in preparation for a trip to the Four Corners area. Excellent!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the book I've read about the Puebloans, this book does the best job of pulling it all together.

[S. Garland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great non-fiction about the Anasazi people

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!! Fascinating history of the natives of New Mexico and their communities and social systems.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good book about the architecture, culture, and economies of the Anasazi people, with interesting commentary on what we can learn from them.