"Of Noble Kings Descended": Colonial Documents and the Ancient Southwest, by Stephen H. Lekson, PhD

In this May 16, 2024 presentation for Old Pueblo Archaeology Center, archaeologist Steve Lekson discusses archaeological observations as well as early Spanish and Mexican records that suggest a class structure of nobles vs. commoners existed in Chaco Canyon and other precontact societies in the U.S. Southwest. The colonial records, of course, recount events and conditions of their times, but also contain startling information that may be relevant to older places like Chaco Canyon and the Aztec Ruins in New Mexico, and the Paquimé/Casas Grandes region of Chihuahua, Mexico.
From Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá, capitan and procurador general
in Juan de Oñate’s 1598 expedition that first colonized Santa Fe, to German geographer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) who wrote extensively about the historical peoples of Mexico, Dr. Lekson reviews a number of “possible/potential/probable” insights for deeper history found in early colonial documents, and contextualizes them in light of Native accounts and archaeological data.
Stephen H. Lekson received his PhD from the University of New Mexico in 1988 and held research, curatorial, or administrative positions at the University of Tennessee, Eastern New Mexico University, the National Park Service, the Arizona State Museum, the Museum of New Mexico, Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, and the Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he curated a dozen exhibits, most recently “A History of the Ancient Southwest” (2014), before retiring in 2018. During his career he directed more than 20 archaeological projects throughout the Southwest, served as Editor of the journal Kiva from 2006-2011, and has continued as Contributing Editor for Archaeology magazine since 2003. His publications include a dozen books, chapters in many edited volumes, and articles in journals and magazines. His most recent books are "A History of the Ancient Southwest" (2009), "The Chaco Meridian: One Thousand Years of Political and Religious Power in the Ancient Southwest" (2015), and "A Study of Southwestern Archaeology" (2018).
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