Biographical/Historical:

Thomas C. Windes devoted his over thirty year National Park Service career to the study of Chaco Canyon. Windes received his bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (1965) and his Master’s in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico (1967). Windes honed his field work skills under the supervision of esteemed anthropologist/archaeologist of Chaco Canyon, Florence Hawley Ellis. In 1969 Windes worked on a field crew for Dr. Ellis excavating Sapawe in the Chama country of New Mexico. He also served as Dr. Ellis' teaching assistant for the excavation of Tsama in the Chama region in 1970. Tom Windes was employed as an archaeologist by the Chaco Center, from 1971-1985. He was a key staff member of the Chaco Project and authored many publications (including the Pueblo Alto and 29SJ 629 excavation reports), reports and manuscripts (see Collection 0002). When the Chaco Center disbanded, Windes transferred to the Southwest Regional Office, Cultural Resources Division. For the remainder of his NPS career, he worked on various surveys within and around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. In 1997 he chaired the Pecos Conference annual meeting held in Chaco Canyon, just south of the park's boundary. Thomas Windes' areas of professional expertise are broad ranging (ceramic analyses, archeomagnetic dating and tree-ring dating, ant mound studies, turquoise craft activities, trading networks) and are extensively represented within this collection. This collection represents Tom Windes’ research after the disbanding of the Chaco Project in 1986 and through his retirement in 2005. Windes continues to be an active researcher of the Chacoan region and generously devotes his time as a volunteer in Chaco Canyon.