Stephen H. Lekson
Professor, University Museum Curator of Archaeology
(Ph.D. • University of New Mexico • 1988)

HEND 217

Office Hours
by appointment

I am an archaeologist, working in the U.S. Southwest. Most of my fieldwork has been in the Mogollon and Anasazi (Ancestral Pueblo) regions, but I’ve also dabbled in Hohokam, Casas Grandes, Jornada, and Rio Grande areas. My principal interests are human geography, built environments, and government; but my current research projects have more to do with migrations (Pinnacle Ruin, in southern New Mexico) and household archaeology (Yellow Jacket, in southwestern Colorado). I am also interested in museums (I am Curator of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History) and archaeology’s role in American and global intellectual life.

Selected Publications:

  • 2015   Chaco Meridian: One Thousand Years of Political Power in the Ancient Southwest (second edition). Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham.
  • Lekson, S. H.  2009.  A History of the Ancient Southwest.  SAR Press, Santa Fe.
  • Lekson, S.H.  2009.  Lost Cities, Prairie Castles: Mesa Verde, Manitou Cliff Dwellings, Bent’s Old Fort and the Fort Restaurant.  In The Archaeology of Meaningful Places, edited by Maria Nieves Zedeno and Brenda Bowser.  University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
  • Lekson, S. H. (editor)  2007.  The Architecture of Chaco Canyon. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
  • Lekson, S.H.  2007.  Europe and the Buildings Without History.  In Canyon Gardens: The Ancient Pueblo Landscapes of the American Southwest, V.B. Price and Baker H. Morrow, editors.  University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
  • Lekson, S.H.  2006.   Archaeology of the Mimbres Region, Southwestern New Mexico, U.S.A.  British Archaeological Reports, International Series 1466, Oxford.
  • Lekson, S.H. (editor)  2006.  The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon.  School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.
  • Lekson, S.H.  2005.  Complexity.  In Southwestern Archaeology in the Twentieth Century, edited by Linda Cordell and Donald Fowler.  University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
  • Lekson, S.H.  2005.  Chaco and Paquimé: Complexity, History, and Landscape.  In North American Archaeology, edited by Timothy Pauketat and Diana Loren.  Blackwell.
  • Lekson, S.H.  2002.  Salado Archaeology of the Upper Gila, New Mexico.  University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
  • Lekson, S.H.  1999.  Chaco Meridian: Centers of Political Power in the Ancient Southwest.  Altamira Press, Walnut Creek.