Often overshadowed by the Ancestral Pueblo centers at Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde, the Middle San Juan is one of the most dynamic territories in the pre-Hispanic Southwest, interacting with Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde as well the surrounding regions. This ancient Puebloan heartland was instrumental in tying together Chaco and Mesa Verde cultures to create a distinctive blend of old and new, local and nonlocal. The contributors to this book attribute the development of Salmon and Aztec to migration and colonization by people from Chaco Canyon. Rather than fighting for control over the territory, Chaco migrants and local leaders worked together to build the great houses of Aztec and Salmon while maintaining their identities and connections with their individual homelands. As a result of this collaboration, the Middle San Juan can be seen as one of the ancient Puebloan heartlands that made important contributions to contemporary Puebloan society.

This major synthesis of work explores new evidence gathered at Basketmaker III sites on the Colorado Plateau in search of further understanding of Anasazi development.
Since the 1960s, large-scale cultural resource management projects have revealed the former presence of Anasazi within the entire northern Southwest. These discoveries have resulted in a greatly expanded view of the BMIII period (A.D. 550-750) which immediately proceeds the Pueblo phase. Particularly noteworthy are finding of Basketmaker remains under those of later periods and in sites with open settings, as opposed to the more classic Basketmaker cave and rock shelter sites.
"Foundations of Anasazi Culture" explores this new evidence in search of further understanding of Anasazi development. Several chapters address the BMII-BMIII transition, including the initial production and use of pottery, greater reliance on agriculture, and the construction of increasingly elaborate structures. Other chapters move beyond the transitional period to discuss key elements of the Anasazi lifestyle, including the use of gray-, red-, and white-ware ceramics, pit structures, storage cists, surface rooms, full dependence on agriculture, and varying degrees of social specialization and differentiation. A number of contributions address one or more of these issues as they occur at specific sites. Other contributors consider the material culture of the period in terms of common elements in architecture, ceramics, lithic technology, and decorative media.
This work on BMIII sites on the Colorado Plateau will be useful to anyone with an interest in the earliest days of Anasazi civilization.

This volume invites readers to Join a seasoned researcher as he ""goes herping."" After nearly twenty years of traveling around the globe searching for toads, frogs, salamanders, snakes, lizards, and turtles, herpetologist Paul Freed pauses to tell storles of his adventures finding and collecting reptiles and amphibians from the tropics of Costa Rica to the deserts of Namibia. Whether confronting scorpions, beefworms, army ants, or venomous snakes. Freed conveys a contagious enthusiasm for the outdoors and all that lives in it. With humor and gratitude, he embraces both the hardships and the rewards of being in the field. His tales of discovery are also travel stories, and by sharing the experiences of his trips across the globe - ""the successful ones and those not so successful"" - Freed encourages the adventurer in all of us. As he ponders on a writhing knot of golden toads - a species that may now be extinct - or the twitching blue tall broken from a girdled lizard. Freed introduces conservation issues particular to specific locales and those shared across the global village. Through his experiences, readers learn a variety of exotic wildlife collection techniques, some of which represent lngenious improvising under hazardous conditions and some of which are downright humorous. Readers share the excitement of scientific discoveries, the thrill of international travel to remote and fascinating regions, and the opportunity to encounter both rare and abundant wildlife in its natural habitats. Armchair naturalists, arnateur herpers, and people interested in exotic travel, ecotourism, and scientific adventure will find this book just as appealing and informative as will professional and academic herpetologists.

This volume invites readers to Join a seasoned researcher as he ""goes herping."" After nearly twenty years of traveling around the globe searching for toads, frogs, salamanders, snakes, lizards, and turtles, herpetologist Paul Freed pauses to tell storles of his adventures finding and collecting reptiles and amphibians from the tropics of Costa Rica to the deserts of Namibia. Whether confronting scorpions, beefworms, army ants, or venomous snakes. Freed conveys a contagious enthusiasm for the outdoors and all that lives in it. With humor and gratitude, he embraces both the hardships and the rewards of being in the field. His tales of discovery are also travel stories, and by sharing the experiences of his trips across the globe - ""the successful ones and those not so successful"" - Freed encourages the adventurer in all of us. As he ponders on a writhing knot of golden toads - a species that may now be extinct - or the twitching blue tall broken from a girdled lizard. Freed introduces conservation issues particular to specific locales and those shared across the global village. Through his experiences, readers learn a variety of exotic wildlife collection techniques, some of which represent lngenious improvising under hazardous conditions and some of which are downright humorous. Readers share the excitement of scientific discoveries, the thrill of international travel to remote and fascinating regions, and the opportunity to encounter both rare and abundant wildlife in its natural habitats. Armchair naturalists, arnateur herpers, and people interested in exotic travel, ecotourism, and scientific adventure will find this book just as appealing and informative as will professional and academic herpetologists.