Research Catalog

Title

The Chaco experience : landscape and ideology at the center place / Ruth M. Van Dyke.

Author

Van Dyke, Ruth M.

Publication

Santa Fe, N.M. : School for Advanced Research Press, 2008, c2007.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xiii, 314 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. (some col.), maps; 23 cm.

Summary

"In a remote canyon in northwest New Mexico, thousand-year-old sandstone walls waver in the sunlight, stretching like ancient vertebrae against a turquoise sky. This storied place - Chaco Canyon - carries multiple layers of meaning for Native Americans and archaeologists, writers and tourists, explorers and artists. Here, isolation, the arid climate, and dry-laid construction have preserved ruins that are monuments to prehistoric creativity and perseverance. Chaco Canyon draws its power not only from the ancient architecture sheltering beneath its walls but from the ever-changing light and the far-flung vistas of the Colorado Plateau. Light and shadow, stone and sky come together in the canyon. At the heart of this sky-filled landscape lie twelve massive great houses. The Chacoan landscape, with its formally constructed, carefully situated architectural features, is charged with symbolism. In this volume, archaeologist Ruth Van Dyke analyzes the meanings and experience of moving through this landscape to illuminate Chacoan beliefs and social relationships."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

• Chaco Canyon (N.M.) > Antiquities
• Chaco architecture > Chaco Canyon
• Chaco culture > Chaco Canyon
• Landscapes > Symbolic aspects > Chaco Canyon

Note

• "A School for Advanced Research resident scholar book."

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-303) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Orientations -- Locations -- Perceptions and representations -- Origins -- The center place -- Connections -- The classic Bonito Chacoan world -- The late Bonito phase -- Lived landscapes.

ISBN

• 9781930618763 (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 193061876X (pbk. : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2007038748

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library