Aztec, Salmon, and the Puebloan Heartland of the Middle San Juan
Edited by Paul F. Reed and Gary M. Brown
Often overshadowed by the Ancestral Pueblo centers at Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde, the Middle San Juan is one of the most dynamic territories in the pre-Hispanic Southwest, interacting with Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde, as well as the surrounding regions. This ancient Puebloan heartland was instrumental in tying together Chaco and Mesa Verde cultures to create a distinctive blend of old and new, local and nonlocal. The contributors to this book attribute the development of Salmon and Aztec to migration and colonization by people from Chaco Canyon. Rather than fighting for control over the territory, Chaco migrants and local leaders worked together to build the great houses of Aztec and Salmon while maintaining their identities and connections with their individual homelands. As a result of this collaboration, the Middle San Juan can be seen as one of the ancient Puebloan heartlands that made important contributions to contemporary Puebloan society.
2018. 184 pp., 16 color plates, 18 drawings, 56 halftones, 5 maps, 1 graph, 8.5 x 11
Contributors: Larry L. Baker, Gary M. Brown, Kathy Roler Durand, Florence C. Lister, David Grant Noble, Ethan Ortega, Theresa Pasqual, Lori Stephens Reed, Paul F. Reed, H. Wolcott Toll, Mark Varien, Laurie D. Webster
Awards: 2019 New Mexico–Arizona Book Award
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Watch the book talk, a discussion between Paul Reed, Gary Brown, Theresa Pasqual, and readers of the book.
“Having read this book I will go back to the Heartland of the Middle San Juan with deep curiosity, excitement, and more understanding of what I am experiencing. Thanks to the work of the authors in this collection, the experience of this place will be much deeper and more rewarding.”
—John Miles, National Parks Traveler, November 23, 2018
Foreword
David Grant Noble
Preface
Paul F. Reed and Gary M. Brown
A Chronology of Middle San Juan Regional History
1. The Ancient Pueblo People of the Middle San Juan Region
Paul F. Reed and Gary M. Brown
2. La Plata Layers
H. Wolcott Toll
3. Ancient Lifeways at Salmon Pueblo on the San Juan River
Paul F. Reed
4. The Great Houses at Aztec, Built to Last
Gary M. Brown
5. Aztec West’s Great Kiva
Florence C. Lister
6. Chacoan Archaeoastronomy of the Middle San Juan Region
Larry L. Baker
7. Putting Meat on the Puebloan Table
Kathy Roler Durand and Ethan Ortega
8. Ancient Puebloan Clothing from the Aztec and Salmon Great Houses
Laurie D. Webster
9. Ancestral Pueblo Pottery of the Middle San Juan Region
Lori Stephens Reed
10. The Intertwined Histories of the Chaco, Middle San Juan, and Mesa Verde Regions
Mark Varien
11. An Acoma Perspective on the Middle San Juan Region
Theresa Pasqual
Suggested Reading
Contributors
Index
- The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon: An Eleventh-Century Pueblo Regional Center, edited by Stephen H. Lekson, 2006
- The Chaco Experience: Landscape and Ideology at the Center Place, by Ruth Van Dyke, 2008
- A History of the Ancient Southwest, by Stephen H. Lekson, 2009
- In Search of Chaco: New Approaches to an Archaeological Enigma, edited by David Grant Noble, 2004
- The Mesa Verde World: Explorations in Ancestral Pueblo Archaeology, edited by David Grant Noble, 2006