“Millennium on the Meridian: Political History of the Ancient Southwest” with Steve Lekson

In this presentation, I share my research published in a study linking the sequential Southwestern U.S. capitals of Chaco Canyon (850-1125), Aztec Ruins (1110-1280), and Paquime (Casas Grandes, 1250-1450), along a north-south alignment, or the “Chaco Meridian.” Subsequent research extends the importance of the Meridian back to 500 CE and forward to 1600 CE: for the six archaeological periods in that 1100-year span, the largest and more important sites for each period were located on or very near that north-south line. What does that mean? In 2015, I published an expanded “Chaco Meridian” that attempted to answer that question.
Stephen H. Lekson was Curator of Archaeology at the Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado, Boulder. He received his PhD from the University of New Mexico in 1988, and held research, curatorial, or administrative positions with University of Tennessee, Eastern New Mexico University, National Park Service, Arizona State Museum, Museum of New Mexico, and Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.