Tracking Ancient Footsteps celebrates William D. Lipe's five-decade career in Southwestern and conservation archaeology. From the arid expanses of Glen Canyon, the Red Rock Plateau, and Cedar Mesa in Utah, to the relatively lush Dolores Valley and Mesa Verde regions of Colorado, Lipe participated in the key projects defining much of what is known today about the ancient Native American past in the Southwest. And, in 1974, he provided a timely definition for "public archaeology" that influences researchers and land managers to the present time. In Tracking Ancient Footsteps, nine of his close colleagues share their experiences, providing a chronology of one man's life intersecting with our understanding of Southwestern Prehistory, the role of government land-holding agencies, and the archaeological profession as a whole.
