Dr. Stephen Lekson will discuss and sign his new book, A History of the Ancient Southwest (SAR Press, 2009) at 2 pm on Sunday, July 19, in the New Mexico History Museum Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public with Museum admission, which is free to NM residents on Sundays.

Dr. Lekson, a curator and associate professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado, has drawn a decade of controversy for his theory of “the Chaco meridian” – an ancient migration pattern connecting Casas Grandes, Mexico, to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. First pursued 10 years ago in his book The Chaco Meridien: Centers of Political Power in the Ancient Southwest, the theory continues in his latest book, sure to have archaeologists and anthropologists arguing anew.

Dr. Lekson received his doctorate in anthropology from the University of New Mexico and has more than 25 years of experience in Southwestern archaeology, with field research in Chaco Canyon, the Mesa Verde region, the Rio Grande, the Mimbres area, and the Hohokam region of southern Arizona. He has worked for the National Park Service, Arizona State Museum and the Museum of New Mexico.

From 1992-95, he was president of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Dr. Lekson’s books include Intrigue of the Past: Discovering Archaeology in New Mexico; Chaco Canyon: A Center and Its World; and Great Pueblo Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.  He has been an invited speaker at many conferences and public lectures, including the Smithosnian Institution, the Archaeological Institute of AMerica, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts. He has been a featured speaker on several radio and television specials, including National Public Radio, the Discovery Channel and the History Channel.

For more information on the event, call (505) 476-5200.

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