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The Lost World of the Old Ones: Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest
An award-winning author and veteran mountain climber takes us deep into the Southwest backcountry to uncover secrets of its ancient inhabitants. For more than 5,000 years the Ancestral Puebloans―Native Americans who flourished long before the first contact with Europeans―occupied the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. Just before AD 1300, they abandoned their homeland in a migration that remains one of prehistory's greatest puzzles. Northern and southern neighbors of the Ancestral Puebloans, the Fremont and Mogollon likewise flourished for millennia before migrating or disappearing. Fortunately, the Old Ones, as some of their present-day descendants call them, left behind awe-inspiring ruins, dazzling rock art, and sophisticated artifacts ranging from painted pots to woven baskets. Some of their sites and relics had been seen by no one during the 700 years before David Roberts and his companions rediscovered them. In The Lost World of the Old Ones , Roberts continues the hunt for answers begun in his classic book, In Search of the Old Ones . His new findings paint a different, fuller portrait of these enigmatic ancients―thanks to the breakthroughs of recent archaeologists. Roberts also recounts his last twenty years of far-flung exploits in the backcountry with the verve of a seasoned travel writer. His adventures range across Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado, illuminating the mysteries of the Old Ones as well as of the more recent Navajo and Comanche. Roberts calls on his climbing and exploratory expertise to reach remote sanctuaries of the ancients hidden within nearly vertical cliffs, many of which are unknown to archaeologists and park rangers. This ongoing quest combines the shock of new discovery with a deeply felt connection to the landscape, and it will change the way readers experience, and imagine, the American Southwest. 16 pages of color illustrations
352 pages, Hardcover
First published April 13, 2015
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1012 people want to read
About the author
David Roberts
61 books225 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
See this thread for more information.
David Roberts is the award-winning author of twenty-nine books about mountaineering, exploration, and anthropology. His most recent publication, Alone on the Wall, was written with world-class rock climber Alex Honnold, whose historic feats were featured in the film Free Solo.
See this thread for more information.
David Roberts is the award-winning author of twenty-nine books about mountaineering, exploration, and anthropology. His most recent publication, Alone on the Wall, was written with world-class rock climber Alex Honnold, whose historic feats were featured in the film Free Solo.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
September 14, 2015
If you are at all interested in archeology, the American Southwest, or just love travel and discovery- you should not miss this book. And you will not need the language of scientific classifications or minutia of crosscut wood dating or anything in that order to understand it either. David Roberts is an original. Oh, you can tell.
The sections upon the reaction to his former book "In Search of the Old Ones" is worth the read alone. In these days of GPS and good guessers, he got into a bit of trouble. But in all his hiking and observations through these mazes of canyons, he leaves what he finds as he found it. And in this book he is giving less substantial clues.
You will hear about the iconoclasts and the disputers in this field of Pre-Columbian areas of interest. And why the name Anasazi has been replaced by Ancestral Puebloans. And who the Dine (Navajos) believe they are. And the unimaginable feats they performed to scale and keep their granaries. How did they live? What made them disappear? Have they any DNA connection to the present living Native Americans? All kinds of interesting lines of speculation, yes! But much more cores this books. It holds the advantage or at times disadvantage for a seeking. A seeking through travel, personal experience and conversations with the "knowers" for the AZ, CO, NM, Utah vast and myriad canyons.
I was enthralled with Waldo Wilcox. His history, his range (Range Creek, Desolation Valley owner for 60 plus years), his knowledge, his quiet. It is no accident that private property, rather than governmental or national park proprieties kept his Range Creek sacrosanct from pilfering this long.
Having just been to AZ in August and seeing some (Montezuma's Castle National Monument)Snazi ruins, it was wonderful to feel the sense that SOME others understand why NOT to have tourists filing through. Or at all. Or any sites designated with formal governmental attachment. They are ruined by numbers in very few years. His torment over a pet dog ripping holes in a 1000 year old window sill, that one got to me.
What circumstances of invasion and athletes of heights enabled such invention? You will hear those interactions between the questioners of record that are surprisingly at times, opposing each other. This is the first I've heard of the theory surrounding the Chaco Meridian, which truly does make sense. Maybe it was not different peoples at all, but the same related humans over different centuries moving straight North / South.
Fascinating book and filled with modern adventurers, climbers, art appreciation critics (forgers or thieves may they be)and desecrators who have not a clue.
This is not easy read, because it is so meaty you need to read slow. But you do not have to love Anthropology or Archeology or any of the sciences to get into this one quickly. Because it is popping with personalities. I can't imagine living some of these days of immense physical effort that he describes here. And yet getting lost, turning a niche corner and nearly stepping on a pot that was put down there by someone 1100 years ago. DO NOT TOUCH. Its base is imbedded in marle.
Chuck fill of characters, disagreements, and more entertaining than S.F. or movie versions for seeking the "stuff" of the ages. The true experience is eons better.
The sections upon the reaction to his former book "In Search of the Old Ones" is worth the read alone. In these days of GPS and good guessers, he got into a bit of trouble. But in all his hiking and observations through these mazes of canyons, he leaves what he finds as he found it. And in this book he is giving less substantial clues.
You will hear about the iconoclasts and the disputers in this field of Pre-Columbian areas of interest. And why the name Anasazi has been replaced by Ancestral Puebloans. And who the Dine (Navajos) believe they are. And the unimaginable feats they performed to scale and keep their granaries. How did they live? What made them disappear? Have they any DNA connection to the present living Native Americans? All kinds of interesting lines of speculation, yes! But much more cores this books. It holds the advantage or at times disadvantage for a seeking. A seeking through travel, personal experience and conversations with the "knowers" for the AZ, CO, NM, Utah vast and myriad canyons.
I was enthralled with Waldo Wilcox. His history, his range (Range Creek, Desolation Valley owner for 60 plus years), his knowledge, his quiet. It is no accident that private property, rather than governmental or national park proprieties kept his Range Creek sacrosanct from pilfering this long.
Having just been to AZ in August and seeing some (Montezuma's Castle National Monument)Snazi ruins, it was wonderful to feel the sense that SOME others understand why NOT to have tourists filing through. Or at all. Or any sites designated with formal governmental attachment. They are ruined by numbers in very few years. His torment over a pet dog ripping holes in a 1000 year old window sill, that one got to me.
What circumstances of invasion and athletes of heights enabled such invention? You will hear those interactions between the questioners of record that are surprisingly at times, opposing each other. This is the first I've heard of the theory surrounding the Chaco Meridian, which truly does make sense. Maybe it was not different peoples at all, but the same related humans over different centuries moving straight North / South.
Fascinating book and filled with modern adventurers, climbers, art appreciation critics (forgers or thieves may they be)and desecrators who have not a clue.
This is not easy read, because it is so meaty you need to read slow. But you do not have to love Anthropology or Archeology or any of the sciences to get into this one quickly. Because it is popping with personalities. I can't imagine living some of these days of immense physical effort that he describes here. And yet getting lost, turning a niche corner and nearly stepping on a pot that was put down there by someone 1100 years ago. DO NOT TOUCH. Its base is imbedded in marle.
Chuck fill of characters, disagreements, and more entertaining than S.F. or movie versions for seeking the "stuff" of the ages. The true experience is eons better.
July 10, 2015
Roberts blends an extreme-travel narrative (his specialty) with an exceptional account of the ongoing academic controversies around our understanding of the pre-Columbian Southwest. Nature and history lovers will enjoy the vivid tales of exploration and discovery (though Roberts could definitely ease up on the adjectives) from a veteran National Geographic writer. I'd highly recommend this book, though, to academics in the social sciences, or those studying the production of knowledge.
Roberts is excellent at summarizing academic work, and with an extensive bibliography, his book's led me to a huge number of primary sources to follow up on. But his particular concern is the messy production of academic knowledge, and the degree to which it's shaped by interpersonal conflict (a recurring theme is the appalling discrediting of women's work and sabotage of their careers by their more academically influential exes), personal and national politics, and skill sets (little work has been done on incorporating an understanding of the construction and use of remote food caches, in part because so few archaeologists are climbers).
There probably isn't a huge audience of academic epistemologists who love travel writing, but this book hit a sweet spot for me. Loved it, and enjoying the journey back into his sources.
Roberts is excellent at summarizing academic work, and with an extensive bibliography, his book's led me to a huge number of primary sources to follow up on. But his particular concern is the messy production of academic knowledge, and the degree to which it's shaped by interpersonal conflict (a recurring theme is the appalling discrediting of women's work and sabotage of their careers by their more academically influential exes), personal and national politics, and skill sets (little work has been done on incorporating an understanding of the construction and use of remote food caches, in part because so few archaeologists are climbers).
There probably isn't a huge audience of academic epistemologists who love travel writing, but this book hit a sweet spot for me. Loved it, and enjoying the journey back into his sources.
March 5, 2019
Expecting a treasure trove of information about the Old Ones, I was disappointed that the focus was on the author's person travel log of trips to ancient sites and feuds among the archaeologists. The limit information about the Old Ones is of interest.
January 31, 2020
Splendid book on my favorite part of this country, the American Southwest. Required reading for prospective newcomers and seasoned travelers alike. Very few travelers will want to try to match his exploits, but the area is (in part) accessible to people of modest physical abilities too. You should go. And, in the meanwhile, his book is an armchair travelers delight.
I lived in the Southwest for 35 years and have been to many of the more accessible places he mentions (and many more that he didn't). I've been interested in archaeology for all of that time. I was surprised by how much I learned, and by how many changes in the previously-accepted archaeological theories there have been in recent years. Hardly an exact science, but still. Roberts' book isn't a tour guide, quite, but more of a report on one adventurous and eloquent man (and his friends) visits in the past 25 years or so. Highly recommended: 4.4 stars.
For more details and a real review, I recommend reading Jeanette's, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I lived in the Southwest for 35 years and have been to many of the more accessible places he mentions (and many more that he didn't). I've been interested in archaeology for all of that time. I was surprised by how much I learned, and by how many changes in the previously-accepted archaeological theories there have been in recent years. Hardly an exact science, but still. Roberts' book isn't a tour guide, quite, but more of a report on one adventurous and eloquent man (and his friends) visits in the past 25 years or so. Highly recommended: 4.4 stars.
For more details and a real review, I recommend reading Jeanette's, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
November 15, 2022
― “There beneath the leaning stones, lying face down, was a perfectly intact basket made of either yucca or willow fiber. The weaving was so exquisite and tight that the basket almost certainly would have held water. I knew from similar objects I had seen in museums that this one must date from the Basketmaker II era, so at a minimum it was fifteen hundred years old.”
― David Roberts, The Lost World of the Old Ones: Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest
There’s something about the American West that fascinates me, a lifelong resident of the east coast—the unusual landscapes; the majesty of the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada or Yosemite; the natural beauty of Sedona or the Grand Canyon; the unusual terrain and natural features; the sweeping vistas; the panoramic landscapes; the dark night skies for star gazing. The American West is truly remarkable and a wellspring of amazement and wonder. Over the past 30 years I have made 20 trips to the ten states that make up the western US. When the pandemic hit, I already had three more trips in mind—to visit Redwood National Park, Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado, and to tour the five national parks in southern Utah.
Native Americans long dominated the vastness of the American West. Various Indigenous groups controlled most of the continent west of the Mississippi River deep into the nineteenth century. Indigenous Americans have lived in North America for over ten millennia. Today, most of the Four Corners region belongs to semi-autonomous Native American nations, including the Navajo, Hopi, Ute, and Zuni tribal nations. The Four Corners region is a vast area of desert, red rock canyons, mountains, and rivers that spreads over parts of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The area is mostly rural, rugged, and arid. This arid climate has helped preserve the many dwelling places and artifacts. My wife has a special interest in Native Americans. In researching her ancestry, she discovered years ago that she is part Potawatomi. Through additional research, she found one of her great grandmothers on the Dawes Registry, confirming that she was Choctaw.
In his book, The Lost World of the Old Ones, award winning author David Roberts takes the reader deep into the backcountry of the Four Corners region to uncover secrets of its ancient inhabitants. Over several decades, he has scrambled up and down much of the rugged terrain in the Four Corners region in search of impressive prehistoric ruins and rock art panels known to very few modern travelers. Although he’s a layman in the field of archaeology, he’s spent a considerable amount of time exploring these sites, plowing through archives, and interviewing the archeologists who have researched the material found there.
At some point in the thirteenth century, ancient Puebloans in the Four Corners abandoned their homes. There’s much speculation among archaeologists about the reason they abandoned the area and where they went. In fact, the discussions have been quite contentious at times. Roberts aims to increase our understanding of the many ethnic and cultural groups that contributed to the regional prehistory, including the ancient Puebloans and their contemporary neighbors the Mogollon and Fremont. The value that Roberts provides is that he visited these ancient sites, which in many cases are not easily accessible. It seems that the ancients liked to hide their grain in granaries that are often hundreds of feet above the valley floor, which means they are not easily accessible to the average visitor. Roberts’ engaging prose style and deep knowledge make for enjoyable reading. It reads like an elegy to a vanished people and time.
― David Roberts, The Lost World of the Old Ones: Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest
There’s something about the American West that fascinates me, a lifelong resident of the east coast—the unusual landscapes; the majesty of the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada or Yosemite; the natural beauty of Sedona or the Grand Canyon; the unusual terrain and natural features; the sweeping vistas; the panoramic landscapes; the dark night skies for star gazing. The American West is truly remarkable and a wellspring of amazement and wonder. Over the past 30 years I have made 20 trips to the ten states that make up the western US. When the pandemic hit, I already had three more trips in mind—to visit Redwood National Park, Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado, and to tour the five national parks in southern Utah.
Native Americans long dominated the vastness of the American West. Various Indigenous groups controlled most of the continent west of the Mississippi River deep into the nineteenth century. Indigenous Americans have lived in North America for over ten millennia. Today, most of the Four Corners region belongs to semi-autonomous Native American nations, including the Navajo, Hopi, Ute, and Zuni tribal nations. The Four Corners region is a vast area of desert, red rock canyons, mountains, and rivers that spreads over parts of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The area is mostly rural, rugged, and arid. This arid climate has helped preserve the many dwelling places and artifacts. My wife has a special interest in Native Americans. In researching her ancestry, she discovered years ago that she is part Potawatomi. Through additional research, she found one of her great grandmothers on the Dawes Registry, confirming that she was Choctaw.
In his book, The Lost World of the Old Ones, award winning author David Roberts takes the reader deep into the backcountry of the Four Corners region to uncover secrets of its ancient inhabitants. Over several decades, he has scrambled up and down much of the rugged terrain in the Four Corners region in search of impressive prehistoric ruins and rock art panels known to very few modern travelers. Although he’s a layman in the field of archaeology, he’s spent a considerable amount of time exploring these sites, plowing through archives, and interviewing the archeologists who have researched the material found there.
At some point in the thirteenth century, ancient Puebloans in the Four Corners abandoned their homes. There’s much speculation among archaeologists about the reason they abandoned the area and where they went. In fact, the discussions have been quite contentious at times. Roberts aims to increase our understanding of the many ethnic and cultural groups that contributed to the regional prehistory, including the ancient Puebloans and their contemporary neighbors the Mogollon and Fremont. The value that Roberts provides is that he visited these ancient sites, which in many cases are not easily accessible. It seems that the ancients liked to hide their grain in granaries that are often hundreds of feet above the valley floor, which means they are not easily accessible to the average visitor. Roberts’ engaging prose style and deep knowledge make for enjoyable reading. It reads like an elegy to a vanished people and time.
April 24, 2015
Part archaeological history and part reminiscence, David Roberts’ new book recounts mysteries solved about the ancient people long-called the Anasazi, a term no longer used in scientific circles. The new PC term for these ancient dwellers of the Southwest is now “Ancestral Puebloans,” and Roberts reports that books with the word “Anasazi” in the title have been banned from National Park Service gift shops. I enjoyed Roberts’ tales of his many expeditions to learn more about these people, and the most fascinating thing I learned from this book was archaeologist Steve Lekson’s theory of the Chaco Meridian, which attempts to explain the collapse of the civilization at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, after A.D. 1125. After Chaco was deserted, the civilization at Aztec, Colorado, 50 miles north of Chaco boomed until about 1300, and it too collapsed, followed by the rise of Paquimé in northern Chihuahua, which lasted from 1250 to 1450. The weird thing about these three civilizations, as Lekson noted, was the strange fact that they are all on the same longitude, 107’57’ west of Greenwich, now called the Chaco Meridian. Lekson doesn’t think this was coincidence, but rather deliberate. Despite the fact that Aztec and Paquimé are 450 miles apart, Lekson notes that in the desert Southwest, it is not difficult to survey long distances on a north-south axis. His theory, then, is “Aztec replaced Chaco and, in its turn, was replaced by Paquimé.” In archaeological circles, this kind of theory is rather like saying that the “Anasazi” were actually aliens from Rigel 7. It’s one of the reasons I subscribe to Archaeology Magazine and read books like this–everyone’s an expert who’s theories are right and everyone else’s are wrong. And Roberts also deals with the thorny question of whether or not the artifacts–even bones–of the Ancestral Puebloans should be collected and stored by museums and universities, or simply left in place with the archaeologists keeping their locations a secret. This is a fascinating book that I would recommend to anyone interested in the ancient history of the Southwest.
May 1, 2015
One of the focuses of this book is the examination of the archaeological record of the peoples who once occupied the Southwestern United States. Around 1300 AD the Fremont people seemingly disappeared from the region and the reasons for this have never fully been explained. David Roberts is a climber (mountaineer? scrambler?) who also happens to be a writer for such publications as National Geographic. This is the second book that he has written which focuses on this particular area of the world but according to the preface this book delves more into the why and the how of the Fremont peoples lives and 'disappearance'. His fascination and passion for the topic are evident in his attention to detail (and sometimes his dreamy prose). You probably won't be surprised to learn that I plan on doing more research on this topic by checking out some of the books he referenced as source material (especially Steve Lekson's groundbreaking work The Chaco Meridian which caused significant backlash among the archaeological elite). If you have an interest in archaeology or simply want to learn more about the wonders of the Southwest (of which there are many) then I recommend you give this book a try. It's made me want to go hiking of all things! O_O
August 17, 2020
I have such mixed feelings about this book. I learned a ton and hearing about David Robert's adventures was an educating page turner. However, Robert's is often arrogant, abrasive, and entitled. I often thought that for some reason he envisions himself more worthy of the experiences he has in the American Southwest than others. He switches from respecting the word of natives to mocking their oral history, but criticized and damned those who did the either. He swings from the pendulum of outdoor museums and the preciousness of discovery and exploration to an elitist mentality about access to ruins. I felt hungry for information while having distate for the narrator the entire book.
April 16, 2021
I actually liked this book better than "In Search of the Old Ones" I enjoyed reading the author's take on the Chaco Meridian, Canyon de Chelly, Wild Horse Mesa and Desolation Canyon (both in Utah), Aztec Ruins, the Tewa migrations and Jimez Pueblo. His interest and love of the Ancient Southwest and the Colorado Plateau are very evident and his description of his own discoveries and adventures in the Four Corners Area are truly impressive. I also got a lot out of his discussions with archeologists and experts from both sides of the academic debate on what did happen to these peoples who built such stunning cliff dwellings and produced amazing rock art in the region.
November 11, 2018
Excellent follow up to In Search of the Old Ones. archaeology has changed a lot since Roberts first wrote of the Ancestral Puebloans and he discusses new theories and research and extends the scope to include the Fremont and Mogollon cultures. I was pleased that his views on Indians’ oral traditions have changed and he (and some archaeologists) gave more weight to their own stories and history (this was something I felt he was much too dismissive of in In Search of the Old Ones).
Roberts captures so well the amazement of discovering and seeing firsthand ancient sites in the Southwest. it’s no wonder his first book on the topic inspired so many people to visit the areas he wrote about to view the sites and artifacts for themselves. I couldn’t put this book down. between Roberts and Abbey I’ve really developed a whole new appreciation for Utah and the Four Corners area. I think it’s especially important now to know how amazing these places are with who we have as president, as national monuments are being shrunk in order to lease or sell the land to be mined for coal and oil (among other things). to think that there are ancient sites in the Southwest still being discovered, areas where only a handful of white people have ever been, sites where no one has been since the ancient inhabitants left and are now inaccessible, where artifacts still sit, in situ, after hundreds or even thousands of years. I find it all incredibly amazing.
Roberts captures so well the amazement of discovering and seeing firsthand ancient sites in the Southwest. it’s no wonder his first book on the topic inspired so many people to visit the areas he wrote about to view the sites and artifacts for themselves. I couldn’t put this book down. between Roberts and Abbey I’ve really developed a whole new appreciation for Utah and the Four Corners area. I think it’s especially important now to know how amazing these places are with who we have as president, as national monuments are being shrunk in order to lease or sell the land to be mined for coal and oil (among other things). to think that there are ancient sites in the Southwest still being discovered, areas where only a handful of white people have ever been, sites where no one has been since the ancient inhabitants left and are now inaccessible, where artifacts still sit, in situ, after hundreds or even thousands of years. I find it all incredibly amazing.
August 20, 2023
Oh I am definitely reading more of his work after picking this one up. Enthralling, surprising revelations about the things that link us to the distant past.
Read
January 24, 2018Well it has provided some useful material for the next book in my FREEFALL sci-fi series... so that's been compelling. Really interesting material on the ancient civilizations in the SW .... but also kind of sad author notes about the degradation of ancient sites by the untutored masses who find them. Sigh....
Blasted through the remainder of the book last night...and still have mixed feelings. If you have an abiding interest in the ancient civilizations of the SW... read it - it's really neat. But the author swings back and forth between his admiration and respect for the Old Ones and what they built. But sadly, his admiration and respect doesn't seem to follow forward to the current generation of pueblo dwellers and their desire to manage their own heritage themselves. He still doesn't quite get it that his authorial agenda... may not be their agenda. He kind of pouts when he doesn't get his way.
Neat photos too though.
Blasted through the remainder of the book last night...and still have mixed feelings. If you have an abiding interest in the ancient civilizations of the SW... read it - it's really neat. But the author swings back and forth between his admiration and respect for the Old Ones and what they built. But sadly, his admiration and respect doesn't seem to follow forward to the current generation of pueblo dwellers and their desire to manage their own heritage themselves. He still doesn't quite get it that his authorial agenda... may not be their agenda. He kind of pouts when he doesn't get his way.
Neat photos too though.
August 19, 2020
Roberts writes well, but he's soooo male. He misses a lot when it comes to other cultures. Example: this ruin is situated on a "lordly" spot. Did the Ancestral Pueblo peoples have Lord's? Did they organize their world in this Western-male sort of way? No evidence of that presented here. Not sure Roberts is even aware of his biases. But I did appreciate the description/validation of "the hum." When I read this I'd just returned from a trip to Chaco w my ears buzzing.
July 15, 2025
Somewhere between 4.25 and 4.5 stars, rounded up.
No, I can't do it. Somewhere around 4-4.25, ranked at 4.
I had grokked sections of this book on my next-to-last trip to Mesa Verde, about two years after it came out. None of my local libraries had it and I never made the ILL request.
But, having done a grokking re-read of my old copy of In Search of the Old Ones recently, and knowing that this is just about Roberts' only Southwestern history and culture book I had not read, I remedied that. (Turns out, which I didn't know, that he has a book on Bears Ears released not too long before his death. And, since a fair amount of its yards [sic] are about Mormons in Bluff and Blanding and other nearby places, I'll probably pass.)
This is then, probably the last Southwestern Indians and history book by Roberts for me to read.
Roberts starts with the world of the Fremont people, specifically as shown in the Range Creek ranch once owned by Waldo Wilcox, eventually sold to the Trust for Public Land, then opened to the Utah Museum of Natural History, with him eventually locked out himself.
A bitter divorce between two of the staff of UMNH caused additional problems. Shannon Boomgarden, mentioned more favorably by Roberts, is currently Range Creek field director. Duncan Metcalfe, the villain at the time, is no longer with UMNH.
We learn more about Waldo Wilcox, then about academia turf wars, it seems, then about Fremont in Range Reach. Of course, maybe Roberts got locked out eventually, too.
==
From there, it’s to Cedar Mesa, which WAS made part of Bears Ears NM under Obama, removed by Trump 1.0, added back by Biden and now in the process of being removed again — pending legal battles.
The “outdoor museum” is in practice a great idea, but, with looting already on the increase at the 2015 time of writing? More and more the worst option in many places.
And, as one reviewer notes on his Bears Ears book, only Congress can declare a National Conservation Area. Not a president.
==
Then, after saying he’d abandoned many ideas from “In Search Of” that haven’t panned out or have changed, he jumps on Lekson’s Chaco Meridian. I agree that modern Puebloan ideas on things like kivas shouldn’t be blindly retrojected 700 or more years, but I reject the “empire” idea behind Lekson. Plus, with studies now showing that many of the “roads” may be watercourses, either in addition to, or instead of, and that the roads don’t run as far as he claims (thanks LIDAR) this is itself a dead-ish idea. See here for more.
As I’ve said before, this idea has several problems.
First, Chaco, Aztec and Paquimas aren’t on EXACTLY the same meridian. They are pretty darned close, but?
Second, the Mogollon people didn’t have a “capital” or anything like it. Why not, under this theory? Did they get skipped? If you try to run with the Gila Cliff Dwellings, they’re well off the meridian. Almost as much “off” are the old Mimbres sites.
Third, American Indians had no way of telling meridians. No compass to tell magnetic north and calibrate while slowly extending roads. Polaris? Due north on every meridian. Roberts claims this would be easy with a simple shadow pole. Not so much, as I see it. First, you’d have to repeat your sightings for a few consecutive days to make sure you had true north at local noon. Second, you’d have to repeat the sitings probably no less frequently than every 3 miles to make sure you didn’t have even minor errors but accumulating ones. The fact that Pueblo Bonito and Nuevas Casas Grande are only 4 minutes off should not be taken as “proof.” (The Gila Cliff Dwellings are one-third degree off, and I’m also reminded of “reality” vs “coincidence” in paleoastronomy.)
Fourth, yes, “empire” like structures existed in the New World. But, they were small. The Triple Alliance (Aztecs) was. Much of the Inca was actually confederates, some tighter, some looser.
And, it had no beast of burden larger than a llama. In North America. Nothing but a big old dog dragging a small travois existed. In the Old World, no real empires evolved until domestication of horse and other such animals.
Fifth, the Great North Road goes only from Chaco to Kutz Canyon, not all the way to Aztec. Maybe it goes beyond, but it's never been traced on the other side of the San Juan. We have LIDAR now. (Lekson also ignores that rivers are defensive boundaries. Would Chacoans be that willing to cross the San Juan?)
Sixth? Why have we not found a Great South Road? There a South Road, yes, but it goes only half as far as the Great North Road before bifurcating into southwest and southeast segments.
==
The two parts on the Navajo were both good. I’d never before heard about the one Hopi clan’s claim to have intermingled and intermarried with Navajo back in the 1300s. I’ve been skeptical of claims the Dine were west of the Rockies that early and know that it’s a minority claim in archaeology, but who knows?
The travels of Hoskininni to the rugged lands at the far edge of Navajo Mountain were also good.
==
He ends with a float trip through Desolation Canyon for more Fremont sites, then taking people back to “the basket” his wife Sharon had spotted in Grand Gulch several years ago. This last chapter is where you see Roberts as most Roberts, with all that means to people who have read most his corpus. At
==
In summary, I think his bromance for Lekson is the biggest reason I can't go 5 stars. (Since this time, Lekson has published an expanded version of Chaco Meridian, but from what I've heard, there's nothing really new there.
No, I can't do it. Somewhere around 4-4.25, ranked at 4.
I had grokked sections of this book on my next-to-last trip to Mesa Verde, about two years after it came out. None of my local libraries had it and I never made the ILL request.
But, having done a grokking re-read of my old copy of In Search of the Old Ones recently, and knowing that this is just about Roberts' only Southwestern history and culture book I had not read, I remedied that. (Turns out, which I didn't know, that he has a book on Bears Ears released not too long before his death. And, since a fair amount of its yards [sic] are about Mormons in Bluff and Blanding and other nearby places, I'll probably pass.)
This is then, probably the last Southwestern Indians and history book by Roberts for me to read.
Roberts starts with the world of the Fremont people, specifically as shown in the Range Creek ranch once owned by Waldo Wilcox, eventually sold to the Trust for Public Land, then opened to the Utah Museum of Natural History, with him eventually locked out himself.
A bitter divorce between two of the staff of UMNH caused additional problems. Shannon Boomgarden, mentioned more favorably by Roberts, is currently Range Creek field director. Duncan Metcalfe, the villain at the time, is no longer with UMNH.
We learn more about Waldo Wilcox, then about academia turf wars, it seems, then about Fremont in Range Reach. Of course, maybe Roberts got locked out eventually, too.
==
From there, it’s to Cedar Mesa, which WAS made part of Bears Ears NM under Obama, removed by Trump 1.0, added back by Biden and now in the process of being removed again — pending legal battles.
The “outdoor museum” is in practice a great idea, but, with looting already on the increase at the 2015 time of writing? More and more the worst option in many places.
And, as one reviewer notes on his Bears Ears book, only Congress can declare a National Conservation Area. Not a president.
==
Then, after saying he’d abandoned many ideas from “In Search Of” that haven’t panned out or have changed, he jumps on Lekson’s Chaco Meridian. I agree that modern Puebloan ideas on things like kivas shouldn’t be blindly retrojected 700 or more years, but I reject the “empire” idea behind Lekson. Plus, with studies now showing that many of the “roads” may be watercourses, either in addition to, or instead of, and that the roads don’t run as far as he claims (thanks LIDAR) this is itself a dead-ish idea. See here for more.
As I’ve said before, this idea has several problems.
First, Chaco, Aztec and Paquimas aren’t on EXACTLY the same meridian. They are pretty darned close, but?
Second, the Mogollon people didn’t have a “capital” or anything like it. Why not, under this theory? Did they get skipped? If you try to run with the Gila Cliff Dwellings, they’re well off the meridian. Almost as much “off” are the old Mimbres sites.
Third, American Indians had no way of telling meridians. No compass to tell magnetic north and calibrate while slowly extending roads. Polaris? Due north on every meridian. Roberts claims this would be easy with a simple shadow pole. Not so much, as I see it. First, you’d have to repeat your sightings for a few consecutive days to make sure you had true north at local noon. Second, you’d have to repeat the sitings probably no less frequently than every 3 miles to make sure you didn’t have even minor errors but accumulating ones. The fact that Pueblo Bonito and Nuevas Casas Grande are only 4 minutes off should not be taken as “proof.” (The Gila Cliff Dwellings are one-third degree off, and I’m also reminded of “reality” vs “coincidence” in paleoastronomy.)
Fourth, yes, “empire” like structures existed in the New World. But, they were small. The Triple Alliance (Aztecs) was. Much of the Inca was actually confederates, some tighter, some looser.
And, it had no beast of burden larger than a llama. In North America. Nothing but a big old dog dragging a small travois existed. In the Old World, no real empires evolved until domestication of horse and other such animals.
Fifth, the Great North Road goes only from Chaco to Kutz Canyon, not all the way to Aztec. Maybe it goes beyond, but it's never been traced on the other side of the San Juan. We have LIDAR now. (Lekson also ignores that rivers are defensive boundaries. Would Chacoans be that willing to cross the San Juan?)
Sixth? Why have we not found a Great South Road? There a South Road, yes, but it goes only half as far as the Great North Road before bifurcating into southwest and southeast segments.
==
The two parts on the Navajo were both good. I’d never before heard about the one Hopi clan’s claim to have intermingled and intermarried with Navajo back in the 1300s. I’ve been skeptical of claims the Dine were west of the Rockies that early and know that it’s a minority claim in archaeology, but who knows?
The travels of Hoskininni to the rugged lands at the far edge of Navajo Mountain were also good.
==
He ends with a float trip through Desolation Canyon for more Fremont sites, then taking people back to “the basket” his wife Sharon had spotted in Grand Gulch several years ago. This last chapter is where you see Roberts as most Roberts, with all that means to people who have read most his corpus. At
==
In summary, I think his bromance for Lekson is the biggest reason I can't go 5 stars. (Since this time, Lekson has published an expanded version of Chaco Meridian, but from what I've heard, there's nothing really new there.
May 3, 2015
The book traces David Roberts hiking, scrambling and searching for the Ancestral Puebloans of the Southwest. More of what I have been interested in since we moved to Moab. Also, he wrote another book about 20 years ago on the same topic which has become a classic. Very interesting, informative and intriguing. Also, some duplication.
January 26, 2020
This is a re-read that I enjoyed a great deal. But it’s a bit easy for the author to keep advocating further and perhaps complete restriction of access to many of these areas only after, of course, he has visited.
January 10, 2019
I enjoyed this more than his Sandstone Spine. Same type of information: Anasazi, Fremont and other Southwest hiking to petroglyphs and other ancient art.
February 6, 2023
2.5 stars, rounding down.
I really enjoyed Roberts's Alone on the Ice, which was a high-tension retelling of a story with an arc and with interesting (and mercilessly described) characters. The book was meticulously researched, and a lot more honest than some of the source materials he used (e.g., Mawson's own book). I thought it had some structural problems, but the second half was so compelling that I inhaled the thing. So I know Roberts can write a good book.
The Lost World of the Old Ones isn't one. There is enough material here for two or three good magazine articles, and indeed the early chapters are fairly dense with interesting information about the Anasazi/Pueblo culture. But the middle and end of the book are tedious travelogues and descriptions of cowboy, Mormon, and hippie climber parties stumbling on so many petroglyphs.
I used to think the most boring thing in the world was listening to someone retell a dream, but I am forced to amend this in light of how excruciatingly dull it is to learn about a bunch of hikes in the Southwest.
On to substance. The thing that stands out the most to me about this book is how much Roberts is in it. There was almost no authorial presence in Alone on the Ice; there was some welcome editorializing occasionally and some reports of how he came by information in interviews, but no travelogues. Here, it's me-me-me. And boy is he lacking in self-awareness.
He clearly thinks he is one of the good guys, because he respectfully clambers through the Southwestern mesas in search of Indian artefacts, unlike those stampeding other tourists. (To be fair: I am 100% with him in his hatred of ATVs, those things are an abomination.) He seems to think that the Southwest would be better off if the only person allowed to walk around looking for artefacts was him. I got news for you, buddy: we are in the 21st century. There are 8 billion people on the planet. The population has more than tripled since Roberts was born--it's mentioned in the book at some point, I think he was born before the 1950's. Is it any wonder that popular vacation spots are crowded?
It's not making them National Monuments that does it, it's the Instagramming and democratization of exotic adventure travel. Any schmuck can go climb Everest now, given enough money. You don't own it.
On the other hand, I have to hand it to him: when he talks about anthropologists and archeologists, he is rightfully merciless. He's definitely not of the school where if you have nothing good to say, you keep mum. When he describes all U of New Mexico research that still hasn't been written up, and never will be, because the researchers are friggin' useless deadwood who can't muster up the discipline to write and publish, he's spot-on. When he criticizes them for micro-specializing and not taking an interest in the big picture, while dismissing anyone who tries to do so as cranks or publicity hounds, he's spot-on. There is a devastating portrait of a married couple of researchers early on in the book, who bust up, and as a result he steals credit for her work, and she doesn't publish a word on it. Academics are such dicks, right?
Anyway, time to wrap this up. I think my judgment of this book was significantly affected by hearing it as an audiobook on Hoopla Digital, rather than reading it with eyeballs. When I said above that this should have been magazine articles, I meant it: there need to be pictures. I want to see the blanket, the basket, and the petroglyphs. I want to see a map of the meridian. I also need a reader who is literate enough to be able to pronounce words correctly. The reader they used doesn't have the oral vocabulary to correctly sound out words like "parsimony" and "orthodoxy", and at some point he said either "correlates" or "corollaries" or something like that so wrongly that I spat my coffee out, it was hilarious. He also doesn't seem to be meta-linguistically aware enough to note that "Uto-Aztecan" is related to "Ute", so he pronounces the language family name as "Ooto-". I started wondering how many Indian place names he was mangling completely.
I really enjoyed Roberts's Alone on the Ice, which was a high-tension retelling of a story with an arc and with interesting (and mercilessly described) characters. The book was meticulously researched, and a lot more honest than some of the source materials he used (e.g., Mawson's own book). I thought it had some structural problems, but the second half was so compelling that I inhaled the thing. So I know Roberts can write a good book.
The Lost World of the Old Ones isn't one. There is enough material here for two or three good magazine articles, and indeed the early chapters are fairly dense with interesting information about the Anasazi/Pueblo culture. But the middle and end of the book are tedious travelogues and descriptions of cowboy, Mormon, and hippie climber parties stumbling on so many petroglyphs.
I used to think the most boring thing in the world was listening to someone retell a dream, but I am forced to amend this in light of how excruciatingly dull it is to learn about a bunch of hikes in the Southwest.
On to substance. The thing that stands out the most to me about this book is how much Roberts is in it. There was almost no authorial presence in Alone on the Ice; there was some welcome editorializing occasionally and some reports of how he came by information in interviews, but no travelogues. Here, it's me-me-me. And boy is he lacking in self-awareness.
He clearly thinks he is one of the good guys, because he respectfully clambers through the Southwestern mesas in search of Indian artefacts, unlike those stampeding other tourists. (To be fair: I am 100% with him in his hatred of ATVs, those things are an abomination.) He seems to think that the Southwest would be better off if the only person allowed to walk around looking for artefacts was him. I got news for you, buddy: we are in the 21st century. There are 8 billion people on the planet. The population has more than tripled since Roberts was born--it's mentioned in the book at some point, I think he was born before the 1950's. Is it any wonder that popular vacation spots are crowded?
It's not making them National Monuments that does it, it's the Instagramming and democratization of exotic adventure travel. Any schmuck can go climb Everest now, given enough money. You don't own it.
On the other hand, I have to hand it to him: when he talks about anthropologists and archeologists, he is rightfully merciless. He's definitely not of the school where if you have nothing good to say, you keep mum. When he describes all U of New Mexico research that still hasn't been written up, and never will be, because the researchers are friggin' useless deadwood who can't muster up the discipline to write and publish, he's spot-on. When he criticizes them for micro-specializing and not taking an interest in the big picture, while dismissing anyone who tries to do so as cranks or publicity hounds, he's spot-on. There is a devastating portrait of a married couple of researchers early on in the book, who bust up, and as a result he steals credit for her work, and she doesn't publish a word on it. Academics are such dicks, right?
Anyway, time to wrap this up. I think my judgment of this book was significantly affected by hearing it as an audiobook on Hoopla Digital, rather than reading it with eyeballs. When I said above that this should have been magazine articles, I meant it: there need to be pictures. I want to see the blanket, the basket, and the petroglyphs. I want to see a map of the meridian. I also need a reader who is literate enough to be able to pronounce words correctly. The reader they used doesn't have the oral vocabulary to correctly sound out words like "parsimony" and "orthodoxy", and at some point he said either "correlates" or "corollaries" or something like that so wrongly that I spat my coffee out, it was hilarious. He also doesn't seem to be meta-linguistically aware enough to note that "Uto-Aztecan" is related to "Ute", so he pronounces the language family name as "Ooto-". I started wondering how many Indian place names he was mangling completely.
July 7, 2019
I’m a fan of adventure writers who take me places I don’t have the guts or physical capabilities to visit myself. I just finished books by two of them, writers who explored ruins left behind by some of earliest Americans, aka the Pueblo Ancestors/Old Ones/Anasazi et al. This is a joint review of “The Lost World of the Old Ones: Discovers in the Ancient Southwest,” by David Roberts, published in2015, and “House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest,” by Craig Childs, published in 2007.
These guys are more than a little nuts, climbing canyon walls, inching along narrow ledges, braving 100-plus degree heat or snow, risking dehydration—sometimes alone and sometimes in the company of others, even occasionally small children.
For them it’s all about experiencing the sites and imagining the activities and the emotions of the people who lived in these now crumbling ruins 700 to 1,000 years ago. They find many, many beautiful petroglyphs , thousands of potsherds and sometimes lovely objects. But importantly, they say they never take anything other than photographs. In their heyday, these were some of the largest cities in the world, home to thousands of people, including master builders and expert astronomers, who grew crops and hunted game and, when necessary, moved into the high cliffs for safety.
Both writers interview archaeologists and discuss the competing theories about what made the old ones leave. The sites were abandoned at different times and there is evidence of people moving from one site to another. It’s widely believed some combination of drought, hostilities and collapse of the social order prompted the migrations. Roberts and Childs are both particularly interested in and attempt to follow The Chaco Meridian, a longitude line that intersects several of the most important sites and along which can be found the ruins of signal towers. Some of these people became the ancestors of present-day Pueblo people, including the Hopi and Zuni. It’s still a matter of controversy whether some of them followed the Chaco Meridian all the way to Mexico.
I found these books to be fascinating and well written. Roberts’ is more accessible in that it’s shorter (309 pages versus 466) and has better pictures. Childs is heavier on description and emotion and provides a helpful glossary. I think Childs is also a bit crazier—At one point he jumps into a flash flood as a way to get to his destination faster (highly dangerous.) In addition to hunting the ancients, Roberts recounts his search for the hideout the Hoskinini used to evade the government troops that forced thousands of Navajo to walk 300 miles to an internment camp. (The Navajo are not related to the pueblo people.)
I won’t remember it all, but I enjoyed reading about the adventures as well as the explanations of the clues left behind—the different pottery styles and carbon dating of wood.
These guys are more than a little nuts, climbing canyon walls, inching along narrow ledges, braving 100-plus degree heat or snow, risking dehydration—sometimes alone and sometimes in the company of others, even occasionally small children.
For them it’s all about experiencing the sites and imagining the activities and the emotions of the people who lived in these now crumbling ruins 700 to 1,000 years ago. They find many, many beautiful petroglyphs , thousands of potsherds and sometimes lovely objects. But importantly, they say they never take anything other than photographs. In their heyday, these were some of the largest cities in the world, home to thousands of people, including master builders and expert astronomers, who grew crops and hunted game and, when necessary, moved into the high cliffs for safety.
Both writers interview archaeologists and discuss the competing theories about what made the old ones leave. The sites were abandoned at different times and there is evidence of people moving from one site to another. It’s widely believed some combination of drought, hostilities and collapse of the social order prompted the migrations. Roberts and Childs are both particularly interested in and attempt to follow The Chaco Meridian, a longitude line that intersects several of the most important sites and along which can be found the ruins of signal towers. Some of these people became the ancestors of present-day Pueblo people, including the Hopi and Zuni. It’s still a matter of controversy whether some of them followed the Chaco Meridian all the way to Mexico.
I found these books to be fascinating and well written. Roberts’ is more accessible in that it’s shorter (309 pages versus 466) and has better pictures. Childs is heavier on description and emotion and provides a helpful glossary. I think Childs is also a bit crazier—At one point he jumps into a flash flood as a way to get to his destination faster (highly dangerous.) In addition to hunting the ancients, Roberts recounts his search for the hideout the Hoskinini used to evade the government troops that forced thousands of Navajo to walk 300 miles to an internment camp. (The Navajo are not related to the pueblo people.)
I won’t remember it all, but I enjoyed reading about the adventures as well as the explanations of the clues left behind—the different pottery styles and carbon dating of wood.
October 10, 2018
The Lost World of the Old Ones: Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest by David Roberts (W.W. Norton & Co. 2015) (978.9). Author David Roberts is a leading outdoor writer with special expertise on the subjects of high-altitude mountaineering and rock climbing as well as on the ancient native cultures of the American Southwest. This book recounts the author's explorations in the Four Corners region into the disappearance of the prehistoric cultures which thrived in the area but which were abandoned in the thirteenth century. These cultures, the Anasazi, the Fremont, the Hohokam, and the Mogollon (collectively known as “The Ancient Ones”) simply walked away from their former homelands. Since these were pre-literate peoples, there is no written record to explain why they left or where they went. All that is known for sure, from the perspective of twenty-first century medicine, is that none of these cultures were genetically the ancestral people of the Pueblo Tribe who has inhabited the region for hundreds of years. However, this information (or belief) is fiercely rebutted by the Pueblo themselves, for they are certain that the Anasazi (“The Ancient Ones”) are their direct ancestors.
Though they left no written records, the Ancestral Puebloans (whoever they were) left behind magnificent rock art on the canyon walls and countless dwellings and granaries hidden high among the cliffs and the slot canyons. Many of these buildings contained baskets, pottery bowls, and weavings of untold beauty which were abandoned by the original inhabitants. Some of these items were left in such inaccessible cliff aeries that they have remained outside the reach of pothunters and amateur collectors and may still be located in situ today.
Author David Roberts has wandered for years among the Four Corners region of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona and finds the area and the remains of the earlier cultures to be sources of awe and wonder. Roberts' special talent as a rock climber has allowed him to discover and explore inaccessable rooms and ancient buildings which had apparently not been visited in over seven hundred years.
This is not Roberts' first book on the subject; this volume provides updated information on the current prevailing theories as to what happened to these ancient peoples. It also shares details about what the most current archaeological digs reveal about these fascinating ancient people. My rating: 7.5/10, finished 10/9/18.
Though they left no written records, the Ancestral Puebloans (whoever they were) left behind magnificent rock art on the canyon walls and countless dwellings and granaries hidden high among the cliffs and the slot canyons. Many of these buildings contained baskets, pottery bowls, and weavings of untold beauty which were abandoned by the original inhabitants. Some of these items were left in such inaccessible cliff aeries that they have remained outside the reach of pothunters and amateur collectors and may still be located in situ today.
Author David Roberts has wandered for years among the Four Corners region of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona and finds the area and the remains of the earlier cultures to be sources of awe and wonder. Roberts' special talent as a rock climber has allowed him to discover and explore inaccessable rooms and ancient buildings which had apparently not been visited in over seven hundred years.
This is not Roberts' first book on the subject; this volume provides updated information on the current prevailing theories as to what happened to these ancient peoples. It also shares details about what the most current archaeological digs reveal about these fascinating ancient people. My rating: 7.5/10, finished 10/9/18.
December 5, 2020
The Lost World of the Old Ones is a read aimed directly at me -- Southwestern hiking and archaeology? Yes, please! David Roberts isn't a scientist but the best sort of hobbyist, the kind that really knows his shit, and uses the freedom of the hobby to explore all aspects, rather than being locked into one specialization. The main and most glaring weakness, the one I don't want to talk about the rest of the book without mentioning, is the glaring absence of Native voices in this book about the search for Native history. Of the people that Roberts consults, Natives are present only as guides for specific areas, or as generic groups. His interactions with reservation politics are generally unsuccessful and reflected negatively. While he talks about how the current archaeological trend is to take local Native folklore and oral history into account, he does so in a very glancing way.
As an actual archaeological book I would probably find The Lost World of the Old Ones frustrating and disappointing -- honestly, I don't know enough about the topic to know more, but it's very pop -- but as a book about a whole bunch of really cool hikes, it's absolutely fantastic. I did get genuinely teary at the section about petroglyphs in high, hard to reach areas, because I started thinking about the human relationship with art, and our desire to say, "I was here," and how that's true across the years and continents and cultures.
Since it was written for general audiences, I felt capable of following along with the theories and academic fights Roberts laid out, even the ones I almost definitely don't actually understand -- the Chaco Meridian is really interesting but do I "get" it? No, not really. But I did like reading about them driving it and checking out all the sites!
It definitely achieved its goals, though, which is to make me more interested in the Ancestral Puebloan end times. I want to know more about those inaccessible granaries and why there were so many granaries and so few residences in Desolation Canyon!
As an actual archaeological book I would probably find The Lost World of the Old Ones frustrating and disappointing -- honestly, I don't know enough about the topic to know more, but it's very pop -- but as a book about a whole bunch of really cool hikes, it's absolutely fantastic. I did get genuinely teary at the section about petroglyphs in high, hard to reach areas, because I started thinking about the human relationship with art, and our desire to say, "I was here," and how that's true across the years and continents and cultures.
Since it was written for general audiences, I felt capable of following along with the theories and academic fights Roberts laid out, even the ones I almost definitely don't actually understand -- the Chaco Meridian is really interesting but do I "get" it? No, not really. But I did like reading about them driving it and checking out all the sites!
It definitely achieved its goals, though, which is to make me more interested in the Ancestral Puebloan end times. I want to know more about those inaccessible granaries and why there were so many granaries and so few residences in Desolation Canyon!
May 22, 2020
I purchased Mr. Roberts's The Lost World of the Old Ones before traveling to the Desert Southwest two summers ago. I planned to read it before the trip, but I did not. I took it on the trip, and maybe even started it, but it wasn't until recently, I revisited David Roberts's archaeological travelogue.
As it turns out, I'm glad I read it after the trip. Not only did I enjoy reminiscing about our ventures, but I think it was a more fruitful read after experiencing the terrain and sites visited.
We visited fifteen sites on our travels, and I must confess, several of the sites we visited are deemed "cheap scenery" by Mr. Roberts's The Lost World of the Old Ones. This is due to their overt commercialism. We also visited some particularly remote sites, but not so remote requiring permits and special permissions as some of the sites described in Mr. Roberts's undertakings.
Since it was our first trip to the Desert Southwest, both types of sites were appreciated for their role in further educating us about the ancient Southwest. And, reading The Lost World of the Old Ones, with its personal stories and primary source material, further enhanced my understanding and awe of the area.
As it turns out, I'm glad I read it after the trip. Not only did I enjoy reminiscing about our ventures, but I think it was a more fruitful read after experiencing the terrain and sites visited.
We visited fifteen sites on our travels, and I must confess, several of the sites we visited are deemed "cheap scenery" by Mr. Roberts's The Lost World of the Old Ones. This is due to their overt commercialism. We also visited some particularly remote sites, but not so remote requiring permits and special permissions as some of the sites described in Mr. Roberts's undertakings.
Since it was our first trip to the Desert Southwest, both types of sites were appreciated for their role in further educating us about the ancient Southwest. And, reading The Lost World of the Old Ones, with its personal stories and primary source material, further enhanced my understanding and awe of the area.
November 13, 2020
I thought it would be more informative on the Ancients so that was disappointing but I'll still give it 4 stars because the authors stories of exploration were pretty good. If your wanting to learn more on the Fremont and petroglyphs I dont recommend but if you'd like an overall view into the beauty and remoteness of the four corners region and some of the differences in the Pueblo People's and sites then this is a good book. One thing I feel conflicted on is that the author laments the influx of people who have come to these regions like Cedar Mesa, Bears Ears, and the Escalante and taken away some of the feelings of remoteness. He laments sharing places with more hikers and that more crowds have led to people disrespecting the land, vandalism, and the theft of historical artifacts. I get it and it angers me too but as someone who has been in love with Pueblo culture since seeing Casa Grande as a kid I'm glad for the abundance of information these days to be one of those who have come to explore the region to see and learn, not just read about it.
July 29, 2021
As someone who studied anthropology and archeology I am torn between being put off by Roberts and being impressed with his knowledge and writing talent. I honestly thought I wasn't going to be able to read this book due to the first chapter where he complains insistently about "PC culture" and how his description of deflecting the blame about the degradation of a site he described in an earlier book. It took Roberts about 100 pages to finally acknowledge that his writing did contribute to the degradation.
However, the book is well written and you can tell Roberts does have a love and respect for the ancient puebloans, even if he doesn't "get" all the complexities surrounding archeology with relation to the living decents of the culture. The information conveyed with an interesting writing style and I found myself wanting to be on these adventures with him.
If you have an interest in Southwest archeology, read the book. Just take some of the things he says with a grain of salt.
However, the book is well written and you can tell Roberts does have a love and respect for the ancient puebloans, even if he doesn't "get" all the complexities surrounding archeology with relation to the living decents of the culture. The information conveyed with an interesting writing style and I found myself wanting to be on these adventures with him.
If you have an interest in Southwest archeology, read the book. Just take some of the things he says with a grain of salt.
August 1, 2023
Like many of the other reviewers, I thought this book was about the Ancestral Puebloans, however, what it's really about Roberts explorations and adventures about the southwest. The narratives about his climbs and hikes was more interesting than I thought it would be, although I found his seemingly incessant complaints about other people possibly having access to these sites tiresome. Roberts wants the sites mentioned in his book protected, however, at the same he can't bear to have these sites turn into national parks namely because a) parks increase tourism and 2) parks restrict on where you can go and what you can see, which irritates Roberts to no end (see the chapter where Roberts visits Chaco National Monument and hikes part the park before opening without a permit and is caught by a park ranger). Only Roberts and his friends, apparently, can visit these places. Otherwise it's off limits to everyone else.
March 3, 2020
I struggled to get through parts of this book, especially the very detailed/scientific discussions on time periods and the theories surrounding which inhabitants dominated the area of study. However, after trudging through some of that, I was mesmerized with the stories of exploration, discovery and pure joy of being in the beautiful southwest and all its history. That would have probably resulted in an overall rating of “4”, but at the end, as this 70 year-old author (in 2013) is still hiking, exploring and contemplating what’s important in his life, it struck a nerve with me. Less than 2 years from finally being able to spend my time however I want to, what’s the most meaningful way for me to do that? I appreciate this book sparking both my own passion for the outdoors and the southwest, and for inspiring me to think deeply about this next chapter of my life.
July 3, 2017
Another excellent David Roberts book about the ancient southwest. Many stories about hikes in various canyons mostly in Utah and Arizona and the amazing discoveries made on them. Artifacts which appear to have been left behind and untouched for 800 to 1500 years. The cover photo of a granary 1000 feet above the canyon floor on a sheer rock wall really sets the tone. The writer really catches the wonderment of these discoveries and makes the reader feel as if he's along on the trail. There is also some discussion about the various academic theories about life on the Colorado Plateau around 1000 A.D. and what happened to the residents. I love reading about this topic. If only I were 20 years younger. I highly recommend this book.
April 21, 2023
Amazing! David Roberts was an amazing writer and made his stories about the earliest inhabitants of the Southwest so interesting as he explored and discovered their environs in late 20th and early 21st century.
This book is a sequel to "In Search of the Old Ones: Exploring the Anasazi World of the Southwest," which I have also read. Both are fabulous for understanding the lives and movements of these people.
I have also read his book, "Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy." also an enlightening and worthwhile book to read.
I'll be reading more David Roberts books! I was saddened to discover that he passed away in 2021; the world is a better place because he shared his passion and adventures through his literary skills.
This book is a sequel to "In Search of the Old Ones: Exploring the Anasazi World of the Southwest," which I have also read. Both are fabulous for understanding the lives and movements of these people.
I have also read his book, "Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy." also an enlightening and worthwhile book to read.
I'll be reading more David Roberts books! I was saddened to discover that he passed away in 2021; the world is a better place because he shared his passion and adventures through his literary skills.
September 12, 2023
There are many theories about the ancient Pueblans who seemingly disappeared from the Four Corners area of the Southwest. The author is neither an archeologist nor an anthropologist but has talked with many prominent scientists as well as Native Americans and has spent twenty years exploring the area and looking at the topography and a surprising number of ruins and remains that are extremely remote. He writes a vivid account and sinking into this book is like tagging along with a knowledgeable outdoorsman on some fascinating trips that range all over the area of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado and delve into numerous indigenous cultures, past and present. An engrossing read and armchair adventure.
October 27, 2025
Overall a very enjoyable and interesting book. Very recommended if you are fascinated by the Southwest USA and its amazing archaeological history.
However, the author had some annoying attitudes about academia and professional expertise, as well as a consistent and baffling amazement at how basic science operates. I found his critiques very grating and distracting from the interesting narrative.
What makes this more unusual is the fact that the author was a university professor with PhD (which is not mentioned until the last few pages), so the whole act of not understanding academic research and being 'outsider' is such a bizarre performance in an otherwise great book.
He tones down this shtick for the last half of the book, thankfully.
However, the author had some annoying attitudes about academia and professional expertise, as well as a consistent and baffling amazement at how basic science operates. I found his critiques very grating and distracting from the interesting narrative.
What makes this more unusual is the fact that the author was a university professor with PhD (which is not mentioned until the last few pages), so the whole act of not understanding academic research and being 'outsider' is such a bizarre performance in an otherwise great book.
He tones down this shtick for the last half of the book, thankfully.
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