Event Details

The Friends of Coronado & Jemez Historic Sites present a lecture by professor and archaeologist Patricia Crown entitled, "Cylinder Jars, Cacao, and Chaco Canyon."

Chaco Canyon reveals its secrets slowly. Two decades of research in Chaco Canyon has yielded new insights into the use of cylinder jars beyond drinking cacao and possibly another caffeinated beverage.  The shifting shapes and sizes of these drinking vessels suggests different ritual uses and alliances over time.  Dr. Crown’s talk about her research will shed new light on competitive drinking events plus food transportation and preparation at Chaco Canyon.

Professor Patricia Crown, an archaeologist, has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Arizona.  She is currently the Leslie Spier Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emerita at the University of New Mexico where she taught from 1993-2022.  Working in Chaco Canyon since 2005, she is the author of The House of the Cylinder Jars: Room 28 at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon.Using organic residue analysis, she identified the first prehispanic cacao north of the Mexican border.

The lecture is free and takes place at Martha Liebert Public Library, Bernalillo on Caliche St Behind the Town Hall at 829 Camino del Pueblo.