The San Juan Basin Archaeological Society invites the public to a presentation in the Lyceum at the Center of Southwest Studies and on Zoom on Wednesday, August 14th at 7:00 pm. At 6:30 we will have social time. Then after a brief business meeting, we will have a presentation by Dr. Robert Weiner of Dartmouth College. The title of his talk is "Great Houses for Whom? Chacoan Monumental Architecture in Cognitive and Cross-Cultural Perspective". In this talk, Dr. Weiner will offer a new interpretation of Great Houses as temples, drawing on diverse lines of evidence of cognitive science, cross-cultural comparison, and oral traditions of Diné and Pueblo people. For log-in information, go to SJBAS.ORG.

Abstract of Dr. Weiner's talk:
Chaco Canyon and its larger world are defined, above all, by the construction of monumental Great Houses--multistoried masonry buildings unlike any architectural form seen previously in the Indigenous Southwest. Despite over a century of research on Great Houses, archaeologists continue to debate the purpose, use, and meaning of these awe-inspiring structures. What were Great Houses, how were they used, and what do they tell us about the Indigenous history of the Four Corners from AD 800-1200? In this talk, Dr. Robert Weiner will offer a new interpretation of Great Houses as temples, drawing on diverse lines of evidence of cognitive science, cross-cultural comparison, and oral traditions of Diné and Pueblo people.

Bio of Dr. Weiner: Robert Weiner, Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Dartmouth College, where he is affiliated with the Department of Religion. His research focuses on Chaco Canyon and its world, with particular attention to Chacoan religion, monumental roads, and Diné oral histories. Weiner earned concurrent BA-MA degrees from Brown University and a PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder. He has published over a dozen peer reviewed articles and book chapters and he has won grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, American Philosophical Society, and School for Advanced Research among other funders. Weiner conducts archaeological fieldwork on the Navajo Nation and elsewhere throughout the Four Corners.