Canyon Spirits
Canyon Spirits
Beauty and Power in the Ancestral Puebloan World
The beauty of the canyons and mesas of the Colorado Plateau and the lives of the resourceful people that once occupied these now nearly empty places are the subject of the eighty-five black-and-white photographs and accompanying essays in Canyon Spirits. John Ninnemann’s photographs of Chaco, Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, Cedar Mesa, Grand Gulch, and the San Juan River provide the visual context for Stephen Lekson’s descriptions of the early Puebloan cultures of the Southwest and J. McKim Malville’s consideration of the power of celestial events in the lives of these people. Together they provide a non-traditional, provocative, and visually exciting approach to Southwest archaeology.
John L. Ninnemann is former dean of the School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado. Stephen H. Lekson is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his most recent books are Salado Archaeology and Chaco Meridian. J. McKim Malville is professor emeritus of astrophysics and planet sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, and is the author of Ancient Cities, Sacred Skies.
