The Witchery of Flutes

The Witchery of Flutes: Forty-seven short drama of Anasazi daily life

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What was life like for the Anasazi Indians of the Four Corners area of the United States a thousand years ago? What took the attention of their daily lives? What forces compelled them to act?

Now you can walk in their yucca sandals as you read “The Witchery of Flutes” and forty-six other stories. Here you will find the origins of Kokopelli, the infamous flute-playing hunchback depicted in countless Anasazi cliff drawings, the antics of three boys searching for an unblemished rattlesnake for ceremonial purposes, and a craftsman who makes spiral-stone carvings who must tolerate infuriatingly inquisitive children — and much, much more. Each story is certain to educate and delight you.

The author, Jeff Posey, spent years studying the archaeological evidence of the Anasazi, hiking their sites and surrounding territories, and now he writes historical fiction to add flesh to the bones of the science.

In these pages you will meet Nuva, the albino woman, named for the color of snow, who is the surrogate mother for Tuwa, a boy born too small to survive yet he lives. And Grandfather Skywatcher, who keeps a string record of his observations through the twin columns of stone known as the Twin War Gods (present-day Chimney Rock in southwestern Colorado). Also Choovio, named for the antelope, and Chumana, snake maiden and Goddess of the Future to the High Priest.

This world of the Anasazi is a fascinating, complex, endlessly creative place that involves political alliances, individual sacrifice and bravery, and spiritual quests. Before their mysterious disappearance from the archaeological record, the Anasazi built the largest structures in North America (in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico) a thousand years before the Industrial Revolution introduced skyscrapers to New York City, and ruled a world that traded goods, such as turquoise, colorful Macaw feathers (and even living birds), and tiny copper bells, from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

These short dramatic stories are essential reading if you have visited or plan to visit any of the many Anasazi ruins in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, or Utah.