‘Ruins’ brings Puebloan culture to life By Dave Gagon, Deseret Morning News
“PUEBLOAN RUINS OF THE SOUTHWEST,” Arthur H. Rohn and William M. Ferguson, University of New Mexico Press, $34.95, softcover, 320 pages with drawings, maps and 327 color photographs
The most arresting aspect of “Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest,” by the University of New Mexico Press, is the drawings, charts, maps and photographs employed by anthropologists Arthur H. Rohn and William M. Ferguson in their quest to paint a complete picture of the Puebloan culture.
Rohn and Ferguson cover southwestern Colorado’s Northern San Juan River region in which the popular tourist destination Mesa Verde lies, as well as the Kayenta Region, which is home to Canyon de Chelly and the Grand Canyon ruins. The civilization from the Pithouse period to modern-day villages is laid out before the reader in an easy to read textbook fashion.
Chapter one covers the ancient peoples, the chronology of their building, physical appearance and disease, food and clothing, water management, and much, much more. The remaining chapters consider the various regions and their remaining ruins.
The book offers a section on Chaco Canyon culture, including the architecture and ceremonial significance of Pueblo Bonito. The book also covers the Zuni and Hopi ancestry of the Little Colorado River region and the ruins in the Northern Rio Grande Valley.
While other books have compiled similar material, it is Rohn and Ferguson’s mix of historical commentary and myriad added graphic elements that make it unique.
One of the more fascinating subjects in the book is the kiva. Every Puebloan site has them, and the illustrations, photographs (many of them aerial) and explanations help readers’ picture and understand the importance of these ceremonial structures.
The sections on government and society, spiritual concepts and rituals, and celestial observations are enlightening while not being heavy-handed or too scholarly, which is, again, a tribute to Rohn and Ferguson.
“Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest” is the type of book that families will want to leave sitting on the coffee table; even if perused for only a minute, interesting information will be quickly garnered.