Dan Flores

So what we're grappling with then is, you know, so people got into Chaco in the 1850s for the first time, 1850s, 1860s. And so we've essentially got 170 years of archaeological speculation. Mm-hmm. And so the way you try to figure it out is you sort of track that story through to hopefully the most recent versions of, well, here's what it kind of looks like what happened.

But that kind of evidence is never quite as foolproof as Lewis and Clark saying today for the first time we saw and shot a buffalo.

But that kind of evidence is never quite as foolproof as Lewis and Clark saying today for the first time we saw and shot a buffalo.

But that kind of evidence is never quite as foolproof as Lewis and Clark saying today for the first time we saw and shot a buffalo.

Yeah. So the story of the West, when you go back in time, is based on a kind of an evidentiary base that you have to even be more careful with. But it's the only way we have to figure out what happened.

Yeah. So the story of the West, when you go back in time, is based on a kind of an evidentiary base that you have to even be more careful with. But it's the only way we have to figure out what happened.

Yeah. So the story of the West, when you go back in time, is based on a kind of an evidentiary base that you have to even be more careful with. But it's the only way we have to figure out what happened.

Yeah, well, yeah, absolutely. That's been going on forever. As soon as those villages, like in the Galiseo Valley, were abandoned, there's no question there were people out there poking around, seeing what they could find.

Yeah, well, yeah, absolutely. That's been going on forever. As soon as those villages, like in the Galiseo Valley, were abandoned, there's no question there were people out there poking around, seeing what they could find.

Yeah, well, yeah, absolutely. That's been going on forever. As soon as those villages, like in the Galiseo Valley, were abandoned, there's no question there were people out there poking around, seeing what they could find.

Yeah, just instantly. Yeah, and so who knows what all disappeared, but sometimes really great finds are, you know, they remain, and I mean, those kachina masks that Forrest Fenn found there in San Lazaro Pueblo in 1992, man, that's a You just don't find that stuff, in part because nobody ever leaves it.

Yeah, just instantly. Yeah, and so who knows what all disappeared, but sometimes really great finds are, you know, they remain, and I mean, those kachina masks that Forrest Fenn found there in San Lazaro Pueblo in 1992, man, that's a You just don't find that stuff, in part because nobody ever leaves it.

Yeah, just instantly. Yeah, and so who knows what all disappeared, but sometimes really great finds are, you know, they remain, and I mean, those kachina masks that Forrest Fenn found there in San Lazaro Pueblo in 1992, man, that's a You just don't find that stuff, in part because nobody ever leaves it.

And something that we don't understand happened at San Lazaro around 1500 that caused that population of that town to flee so suddenly that either some – Some magician, some healer, some shaman maybe got killed and couldn't go for his goods, or some attack came so suddenly that everybody just fled.

And something that we don't understand happened at San Lazaro around 1500 that caused that population of that town to flee so suddenly that either some – Some magician, some healer, some shaman maybe got killed and couldn't go for his goods, or some attack came so suddenly that everybody just fled.

And something that we don't understand happened at San Lazaro around 1500 that caused that population of that town to flee so suddenly that either some – Some magician, some healer, some shaman maybe got killed and couldn't go for his goods, or some attack came so suddenly that everybody just fled.

So sometimes you get lucky like that, and Forrest got pretty lucky on that one.

So sometimes you get lucky like that, and Forrest got pretty lucky on that one.

So sometimes you get lucky like that, and Forrest got pretty lucky on that one.

The West seems to fascinate the world in a way no other American region can touch. Why can you get your John Wayne fix on TV at any sleepless 3 a.m.? Why is a soap opera Western like Yellowstone so wildly successful? How do shoe stores sell $5,000 cowboy boots that'll never see a stirrup?