Wall Dividing East and West Plazas, Pueblo Bonito
A couple of readers have brought to my attention a recent article in the New York Times on Steve Lekson, who apparently has a new book coming out soon. The article does a pretty good job of summarizing both Lekson’s theories and other archaeologists’ skeptical responses to them, so I bother to summarize further, but I will note that it’s good to see him get this kind of exposure. I haven’t read The Chaco Meridian, his book from ten years ago that the article mentions, but as you can see from my reading list I’ve read a lot of his other stuff. I don’t always agree with him, but I think he’s very useful to have around proposing things that go way beyond the evidence but can serve as incentives to look into issues that have not been considered before. Also, as David Phillips says in the article, he’s an extremely talented and engaging writer, especially by archaeological standards. It’s important to keep a skeptical mind when reading his work, but it’s great fun. Overall, despite its classification of archaeology as a “science” (a tendency I’ve complained about before), this article is quite useful in bringing public attention to a scholar who deserves it. Well done.
Aztec West Great House, Aztec Ruins National Monument
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