The Hisatsinom Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society will present Stephen Lekson to discuss “Chaco Canyon: Capital of the Northern Southwest,” on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013, at 7 p.m. at the Anasazi Heritage Center. This talk is part of the Four Corners Lecture Series.

With over a century of research in and around the canyon, archaeologists know a lot about Chaco Canyon. Chaco is one of the most intensely studied archaeological sites in North America. Yet researchers cannot agree on what Chaco was, and they seem content to leave Chaco as an unresolvable mystery. Why?

This presentation reviews current ideas about Chaco, and reaches a conclusion. Chaco was the political capital of the northern Southwest. It may also have been a pilgrimage center and a commercial hub, but it was first and foremost a capital central to most of the Ancestral Pueblo region.

Stephen H. Lekson is curator of anthropology at the Museum of Natural History, and professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He directed more than 20 archaeological projects throughout the Southwest, most recently in the Mimbres area. Lekson’s publications include a dozen books and many chapters and articles. Most recent are A History of the Ancient Southwest (SAR Press, 2009), The Architecture of Chaco Canyon (University of Utah Press, 2007); The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon (SAR Press, 2006); and Archaeology of the Mimbres Region (British Archaeological Reports, 2006). His current work appears on http://stevelekson.com/.

For more information, call Diane McBride at 560-1643.