Anasazi America: Seventeen Centuries on the Road from Center Place

Albuquerqe, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 2000. First Edition Stated . Trade Paperack. Fine. 6" x 9. 247 Pages. This is the 2000 First Edition stated. Inscribed by the author on thr half-title pae "for the Franklins David Sturt Aug 1, 2008". 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 alliance of hamlets and 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 create classic Chacoan civilization, which lasted some 200 years-only to collapse spectacularly in a mere 40. Why did such a great society collapse? Who survived? Why? In this lively book athropologist/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 who are known to us today as the architects of Chaco Canyon, now a spectacular national park in northwestern New Mexico. Chaco's failure, Stuart argues, was a failure to adapt to the consequences of rapid growth. Foremost among Chacoans' problems were misuse of farmland, malnutrition, loss of community, and inability to deal with climatic catastrophe. The descendants of the Anasazi, the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest, adapted strategically to minimize the impact of these problems. Stuart sees the contrasting fates of the Anasazi and their Pueblo descendants as a parable for modern societies.