David Stuart
MPL News:
Author David Stuart, one of the foremost experts on Chacoan culture, brings his latest discoveries to Mesa Public Library Thursday as part of the monthly Authors Speak series.
The talk will take place at 7 p.m. in the Upstairs Rotunda at Mesa Public Library.
Stuart is an internationally recognized anthropologist whose most cited books are Prehistoric New Mexico, Anasazi America, The Guaymas Chronicles, and the recently released Ancient People of the Pajarito Plateau. He earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of New Mexico and he served many years at UNM as associate provost for academic affairs.
Stuart has been a lecturer at SAR and in Edinburgh, London, Mexico City, and at the Sorbonne in Paris.He is also the author of The Ancient Southwest: Chaco Canyon, Bandelier and Mesa Verde and Pueblo Peoples on the Pajarito Plateau: Archaeology and Efficiency.
Cover of ‘Anasazi America: Seventeen Centuries on the Road from Center Place.’ Courtesy/MPL
Anasazi America: Seventeen Centuries on the Road from Center Place, draws parallels between the decline and fall of Chacoan civilization and the culture of the first world today. Stuart has researched the economic, public health and agricultural indicators, and has come to the conclusion that the inhabitants of Chaco failed to adapt to rapid growth.
“Foremost among Chaco’s problems were misuse of farmland, malnutrition, loss of community, and an inability to deal with climatic catastrophe. Have modern societies learned from the example of the Chaco Anasazi, or are we risking a similar cultural collapse?” Stuart asks, in the first chapter of his recently revised book.
The Authors Speak Series is a monthly event featuring local and regional authors speaking about their writing on a variety of subjects such as local and state history, travel, outdoor activities, fiction, Native American history and culture, poetry and more.
The series is funded by the Friends of the Los Alamos County Library System. The talks are free and begin at 7 p.m., on the fourth Thursday of each month, followed by the opportunity to meet the authors and enjoy refreshments.
