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The book’s eponymous meridian is 107 degrees 57 minutes 25 seconds, and it’s the north-south line upon which Chaco Canyon, New Mexico; Aztec Ruins, New Mexico; Paquime, Chihuahua and (ancient) Culiacan, Sinaloa are aligned. Lekson argues that this is intentional, not accidental, that the cardinal alignment (and this applies to both these sites and, in the case of Chaco and Paquime, the buildings within them), which is traced out quite clearly on the ground as “The Great North Road” between Chaco and Aztec, represents the dominance of one religio-astronomical tradition over another, that saw previous and subsequent dwellings facing southwest or southeast, corresponding to sunset and sunrise on the winter solstice. The latter is the more useful alignment for farmers, as the sun, not the stars, dominates their lives. Furthermore, he argues that all four sites were city-states were ruled by a nobility with strong Mesoamerican connections. They appeared first at Chaco (850-1125), subsequently colonized and migrated to Aztec, (1110-1275) then Paquime (1300-1450) and, more speculatively, Culiacan (?-1530). He finds evidence for the common heritage in architectural elements, such as colonnades, room-wide platforms, stone disks, double- and triple- walled buildings and T-shaped doors. The latter are also very common in numerous cliff dwellings in the Mexican Sierra Madre Occidental between Paquime and Culiacan.Great Houses characterized Chaco’s cultural zone: imposing formal constructions that, Lekson argues, reflect a stratified society dominated by a palace nobility. He further suggests that their form of government may have been the altepetl: a kingship that rotated amongst 6-8 noble families and whose occupant was elected for life. This was the norm in central Mexico at the same time Chaco was in its heyday. He gives further evidence of strong connections amongst Chaco, Paquime, the Mimbres (and, to a lesser extent, Aztec) with the South based on finds of luxury trade goods such as macaws (and macaw feathers), which don’t occur naturally anywhere north of central Mexico, copper bells and turquoise.Based on archeological and cultural evidence, Lekson thinks that the historical Pueblos (Zuni, Hopi, Acoma and along the Rio Grande) were founded by peoples who were subjugated by the Chaco nobility, but then revolted and freed themselves from their yoke during a time of extreme environmental stress (drought) in the 12th C-13th Cs. The egalitarian, ritual-based agricultural societies they founded were a reaction to the hierarchical system of Chaco.Finally, Lekson even suggests (if I read him right) that this migrating nobility might ultimately turn out to be kin to the Nahua/Mexica, whom we know as the Aztecs. According to their traditions, their last stop en route from their mythical northern home, Aztlan, to the Valley of Mexico was (you guessed it!) Culiacan. Working backwards from this, could Aztlan have been somewhere along the Chaco meridian?Lekson’s book is provocative, irreverent, very well written, and entertaining right through the footnotes and appendices! It should be of interest to anyone interested in the (pre-) history of the Southwest, from professionals to curious travellers.
