Our next monthly meeting will be held in person and on Zoom, Wednesday, August 14th, at 7:00 p.m., in the lyceum at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College. After a brief business meeting, Robert Weiner will present “Great Houses for Whom? Chacoan Monumental Architecture in Cognitive and Cross-Cultural Perspective.” A reception will start things off at 6:30 p.m. in the foyer of the Center of Southwest Studies.
Chaco Canyon and its larger world are defined, above all, by the construction of monumental Great Houses–multistoried masonry buildings unlike any architectural form seen previously in the Indigenous Southwest. Despite over a century of research on Great Houses, archaeologists continue to debate the purpose, use, and meaning of these awe-inspiring structures. What were Great Houses, how were they used, and what do they tell us about the Indigenous history of the Four Corners from AD 800-1200? In this talk, Dr. Robert Weiner will offer a new interpretation of Great Houses as temples, drawing on diverse lines of evidence of cognitive science, cross-cultural comparison, and oral traditions of Diné and Pueblo people.
Robert Weiner, Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Dartmouth College, where he is affiliated with the Department of Religion. His research focuses on Chaco Canyon and its world, with particular attention to Chacoan religion, monumental roads, and Diné oral histories. Weiner earned concurrent BA-MA degrees from Brown University and a PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder. He has published over a dozen peer reviewed articles and book chapters, and he has won grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, American Philosophical Society, and School for Advanced Research among other funders. Weiner conducts archaeological fieldwork on the Navajo Nation and elsewhere throughout the Four Corners.
Link to Join Webinar
https://fortlewis.zoom.us/j/96274904694
Meeting ID: 962 7490 4694
New PAAC Lecture Series!
Exposing Hoaxes, Busting Myths, & Solving Mysteries
Archaeology helps us answer the mysteries of the past. But what about those mysteries that sound too good to be true? Is there evidence that giants existed? Are Archaeologists hiding information about ancient aliens? Did the Vikings visit El Paso County? Dr. Ken Feder, Professor Emeritus at Central Connecticut State University, will address all of those questions and more in this ten-part lecture series!
The lectures are roughly an hour each, and can be watched in any order or alone, but the recommended viewing sequence is:
- How do you know? The science of Archaeology
- How to pull off a sort of successful archaeological hoax: the sordid, but silly tale of the Cardiff Giant
- Piltdown Man in evolutionary and historical context
- Etched in stone
- Turn and face the strange: sacred chambers and sacrificial tables in New England and New York
- Mystery of the mounds
- Hail Atlantis!
- The fantasy of the astronauts
- Sheep, spirits, exploding stars, and massacres. Oh, and pterodactyls. Reading the rock art of North America.
- Archaeological follies
You do not need to register to view this lecture series, and there is no “credit” for taking this class. This is the first of a new lecture series that PAAC will offer to increase public engagement with our program and with our discipline.
Exposing Hoaxes, Busting Myths, & Solving Mysteries is available online on History Colorado’s YouTube page now! Tell your friends and family and go check it out!
SJBAS Newsletter – Moki Messenger
Moki – July 2024
SJBAS Zoom Presentations on YouTube
Zoom Presentations
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The San Juan Basin Archaeological Society (SJBAS) is a Colorado Nonprofit Corporation. SJBAS consists of people who are interested in the archaeology, culture, and early history of the Four Corners region. We have members of all ages and backgrounds, some with extensive training in archaeology and others with more limited knowledge, but a strong desire to learn.
Our mission is to advocate for and promote public awareness and preservation of archaeological, cultural, and historical resources, primarily of the Four Corners region of the American Southwest.
Members are eligible to participate in SJBAS field trips and they receive a monthly newsletter, the Moki Messenger, with information about current SJBAS activities and other matters of archaeological and historical interest.