Turquoise, Trumpets, and Tchamahias: The Wealth of Chaco Canyon
Dr. John Kantner, Associate VP for Research & Dean of the Graduate School,
Professor of Anthropology, University of North Florida
The stunning monumental buildings in Chaco Canyon have yielded some of the most amazing artifacts ever found in the ancient American Southwest. Thousands of turquoise ornaments, copper bells and chocolate from Mesoamerica, and shell trumpets from the Pacific Ocean are just some of the rare and beautiful objects found by archaeologists in the 1,000-year-old edifices of this remote canyon. But while today we marvel at these treasures, what did they mean to the ancient Puebloan people who lived in the Chaco World?