The Greater Chaco Landscape: Ancestors, Scholarship, and Advocacy. Edited by Ruth M. Van Dyke and Carrie C. Heitman

Abstract

Chaco Culture National Historical Park has long captured the attention of both the public and researchers. Despite strong disagreements over Chaco society, archaeologists had rarely spoken with descendent community members or included their voices directly in our broader understandings of this place and society. While this has been changing in recent years, we were missing a comprehensive volume that brought voices of descendent communities into conversation with Chaco researchers until the publication of The Greater Chaco Landscape: Ancestors, Scholarship, and Advocacy. As attested through the receipt of both the American Anthropological Association’s 2021 Engaged Anthropology Award and the Society for American Archaeology’s 2022 Popular Book Award, Van Dyke and Heitman compiled a compelling and wide-reaching volume bringing together an impressive breadth of scholarship and advocacy in The Greater Chaco Landscape. The book consists of seventeen chapters authored by individuals representing a range of perspectives, including academics, Indigenous community members, and National Park Service (NPS) and nonprofit employees. Stemming initially from an NPS initiative to better communicate the significance of the broader landscape and help protect the area from oil and gas development, Van Dyke and Heitman embraced a multimedia approach for the book with links to videos filmed either in Chaco Canyon or at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center during a seminar held in 2017 for all but the final chapter. Six of the chapters exist only as videos available on the University Press of Colorado’s website (http://read.upcolorado.com/projects/the-greater-chaco-landscape/) with helpful abstracts and links available within the hard copy of the book; this style of presenting information embraced the communication styles and strengths of the variety of contributors. Within the volume, chapters are divided into seven sections that highlight Understudied Landscape Dimensions; Indigenous Perspectives; Experiencing the Landscape; Geospatial Investigations and Big Data; and Management, in addition to introductory and concluding sections. The range of chapters strikes an important cord of multivocality, allowing many groups with stakes in Chaco Canyon and the surrounding region to contribute and be heard.