Describes what life was like for the people who built this major Puebloan community on the banks of the Animas River in northern New Mexico. Photos by George H. H. Huey.
A lavishly illustrated account of the well-preserved ancestral Puebloan site of Aztec Ruins. The Listers document not only the history, excavation and preservation of the site but also its significance in the world of Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Salmon Ruins. Earl Morris's contribution to the research and preservation of Aztec Ruins is prominently featured.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Trapped in the Mexican jungle, a group of friends stumble upon a creeping horror unlike anything they could ever imagine in "the best horror novel of the new century" (Stephen King). Also a major motion picture! Two young couples are on a lazy Mexican vacation—sun-drenched days, drunken nights, making friends with fellow tourists. When the brother of one of those friends disappears, they decide to venture into the jungle to look for him. What started out as a fun day-trip slowly spirals into a nightmare when they find an ancient ruins site ... and the terrifying presence that lurks there. "The Ruins does for Mexican vacations what Jaws did for New England beaches.” —Entertainment Weekly “Smith’s nail-biting tension is a pleasure all its own.... This stuff isn’t for the faint of heart.” —New York Post “A story so scary you may never want to go on vacation, or dig around in your garden, again.” —USA Today
Aztec, New Mexico, is nestled in the Four Corners area of the United States and has a rich history beginning with the early Puebloan people. They built villages, irrigation canals, and roads--some of which became the Aztec Ruins National Monument. The town also has several buildings on the New Mexico Register of Cultural Properties and the National Register of Historic Places. The state's first commercial natural gas well was drilled here in 1921, and its influence continues today. An alleged UFO crash in 1948 led to an annual UFO symposium, and mountain bikers still flock to the annual Alien Run Mountain Bike competition. In 1963, Aztec was named an All-America City for the community's effort to build an 18-mile-long road to the Navajo Dam. The mountains are a short drive away, and the desert and Navajo Lake State Park make Aztec an ideal place to live and explore.
Lekson's ground-breaking synthesis of 500 years of Southwestern prehistory—with its explanation of phenomena as diverse as the Great North Road, macaw feathers, Pueblo mythology, and the rise of kachina ceremonies—will be of great interest to all those concerned with the prehistory and history of the American Southwest.
Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest offers a complete picture of Puebloan culture from its prehistoric beginnings through twenty-five hundred years of growth and change, ending with the modern-day Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Arizona. Aerial and ground photographs, over 325 in color, and sixty settlement plans provide an armchair trip to ruins that are open to the public and that may be visited or viewed from nearby. Included, too, are the living pueblos from Taos in north central New Mexico along the Rio Grande Valley to Isleta, and westward through Acoma and Zuni to the Hopi pueblos in Arizona. In addition to the architecture of the ruins, Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest gives a detailed overview of the Pueblo Indians' lifestyles including their spiritual practices, food, clothing, shelter, physical appearance, tools, government, water management, trade, ceramics, and migrations.