Ancient peoples of the American Southwest

"Most people are familiar with the famous Precolumbian civilizations of the Aztecs and Maya of Mexico, but few realize just how advanced were contemporary cultures in the American Southwest. Here lie some of the most remarkable monuments of America's prehistoric past, such as Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. Visitors marvel at the impressive ruined pueblos and spectacular cliff dwellings, but often have little idea of the cultures that produced these prehistoric wonders. Stephen Plog, who has spent decades working in the region, now provides the most readable and up-to-date account of the predecessors of the modern Hopi and Pueblo Indian cultures." "Ten thousand years ago, humans first colonized this seemingly inhospitable landscape with its scorching hot deserts and upland areas that drop below freezing even during the early summer months. The initial hunter-gatherer bands gradually adapted to become sedentary village groups, and the high point of Southwestern civilization was reached with the emergence of cultures known to archaeologists as Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollon in the first millennium AD." "Interweaving the latest archaeological evidence with early first-person accounts, St