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Author: Richard E. W. Adams
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Published: 2005
Total Pages: 548
ISBN-13: 9780806137025
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →An up-to-date overview of Mesoamerican cultures from early prehistoric times through the fall of the Aztec Empire, Prehistoric Mesoamerica, Third Edition will be useful and appealing to readers interested in Mesoamerican art, society, politics, and intellectual achievement.
Author: Richard E. W. Adams
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Published: 1996
Total Pages: 486
ISBN-13: 9780806128344
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In this revised edition of Prehistoric Mesoamerica, Richard E. W. Adams updates his widely adopted text with material from recent archaeological fieldwork to present a balanced summary and overview of the region that is today Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. Following an introduction to Mesoamerican studies, a brief geographic sketch of the region, and a summary of the major features of its civilizations, Adams examines in detail each period of cultural history: the first immigrants; the Olmec and their contemporaries; Maya beginnings and classic civilization; the great cities of Teotihuacan and Monte Alban; the rise and fall of the Toltec; and the civilizations of the Tarascans, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Totonacs, and Aztecs.
Author: William M. Ferguson
Publisher: UNM Press
Published: 2001
Total Pages: 280
ISBN-13: 9780826328014
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →William Ferguson's classic photographic portrayal of the major pre-Columbian ruins of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras is now available from UNM Press in a completely revised edition. Magnificent aerial and ground photographs give both armchair and actual visitors unparalleled views of fifty-one ancient cities. The restored areas of each site and their interesting and exotic features are shown within each group of ruins. The authors have thoroughly revised the text for this new edition, and they have added over 30 new photographs and illustrations as well as a completely new chapter by Richard E. W. Adams on regional states and empires in ancient Mesoamerica. Over a span of three thousand years between 1500 B.C. and A.D. 1500 great civilizations, including the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Maya, Toltec, Zapotec, and Aztec, flourished, waned, and died in Mesoamerica. These indigenous cultures of Mexico and Central America are brought to life in Mesoamerica's Ancient Cities through stunning color photographs. The authors include the most recent research and most widely accepted theoretical perspectives on Mesoamerican civilizations. Ideal for the general reader as well as scholars of Mesoamerica, this volume makes a significant contribution to our knowledge of the Americas.
Author: Jonathon E. Ericson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Published: 2013-11-11
Total Pages: 310
ISBN-13: 1489911499
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Regional approaches to the study of prehistoric exchange have generated much new knowledge about intergroup and regional interaction. The American South west and Mesoamerica: Systems of Prehistoric Exchange is the first of two volumes that seek to provide current information regarding regional exchange on a conti nental basis. From a theoretical perspective, these volumes provide important data for the comparative analysis of regional systems relative to sociopolitical organization from simple hunter-gatherers to those of complex sociopolitical entities like the state. Although individual regional exchange systems are unique for each region and time period, general patterns emerge relative to sOciopolitical organization. Of significant interest to us are the dynamic processes of change, stability, rate of growth, and collapse of regional exchange systems relative to sociopolitical complexity. These volumes provide basic data to further our under standing of prehistoric exchange systems. The volume presents our current state of knowledge about regional exchange systems in the American Southwest and Mesoamerica. Each chapter synthesizes the research findings of a number of other researchers in order to provide a synchronic view of regional interaction for a specific chronological period. A diachronic view is also prOvided for regional interaction in the context of the developments in regional SOciopolitical organization. Most authors go beyond description by proposing alternative models within which to understand regional interaction. The book is organized by geographical and chronological divisions to pro vide units of the broader mosaic of prehistoric exchange systems.
Author: Richard E. Blanton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1993-04-30
Total Pages: 318
ISBN-13: 9780521446068
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In this revised and updated 1993 edition the authors synthesize recent research to provide a comprehensive survey of Mesoamerica.
Author: Vernon Lee Scarborough
Publisher: UNM Press
Published: 2007
Total Pages: 248
ISBN-13: 9780826342980
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →One of the most culturally diverse regions of the ancient world, Mesoamerica was also one of the fledgling areas for state formation. The case studies in this volume interpret Mesoamerican civilization through the emergence, resilience, and occasional demise of Mesoamerica's early and developing political economies. An exploration of the unique adaptations and approaches taken by Mesoamerican societies to cope with their evolving landscapes provides insight on how these states were organized and the varying ways in which state affairs were conducted between regions and through time. Although several factors are presented and discussed for the rise and fall of the many complex societies, the book maintains a consistent emphasis on the political economy and its transformative effects over labor, land, and water. Inspired by the impact of the annual yearbook Research in Economic Anthropology (REA) and its longstanding editor, Barry L. Isaac, the contributors in this volume were assembled to honor Isaac and selected based on their previous association with Isaac and REA as well as their knowledge of particular regions of Mesoamerica.
Author: Vernon L. Scarborough
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Published: 1993-01-01
Total Pages: 426
ISBN-13: 9780816513604
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The Precolumbian ballgame, played on a masonry court, has long intrigued scholars because of the magnificence of its archaeological remains. From its lowland Maya origins it spread throughout the Aztec empire, where the game was so popular that sixteen thousand rubber balls were imported annually into Tenochtitlan. It endured for two thousand years, spreading as far as to what is now southern Arizona. This new collection of essays brings together research from field archaeology, mythology, and Maya hieroglyphic studies to illuminate this important yet puzzling aspect of Native American culture. The authors demonstrate that the game was more than a spectator sport; serving social, political, mythological, and cosmological functions, it celebrated both fertility and the afterlife, war and peace, and became an evolving institution functioning in part to resolve conflict within and between groups. The contributors provide complete coverage of the archaeological, sociopolitical, iconographic, and ideological aspects of the game, and offer new information on the distribution of ballcourts, new interpretations of mural art, and newly perceived relations of the game with material in the Popol Vuh. With its scholarly attention to a subject that will fascinate even general readers, The Mesoamerican Ballgame is a major contribution to the study of the mental life and outlook of New World peoples.
Author: Joel W. Palka
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 238
ISBN-13: 9780810837157
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →"This historical dictionary covers some of the major discoveries of the diverse investigations that have taken place throughout ancient Mesoamerican over the last 100 years."--Preface.
Author: Patricia A. Urban
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2024-03-21
Total Pages: 409
ISBN-13: 1316800083
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Ancient Southeast Mesoamerica explores the distinctive development and political history of the region from its earliest inhabitants up to the Spanish conquest. It demonstrates how inhabitants from different locales were organized within a matrix of social networks, and how they mobilized the assets that they needed to achieve their own goals.
Author: Joel W. Palka
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2010-04-01
Total Pages: 236
ISBN-13: 1461671736
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Ancient Mesoamerica drew world interest in the 19th century when photographs, drawings, and descriptions of discoveries of ruined cities in exotic locations in Mexico and Central America were published. These accounts from early explorers, archaeologists, and travelers made the cultures and archaeological sites of ancient Mesoamerica including the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Mixtec, Tarascan, Toltec, Zapotec, and other civilizations a major focus of intensive research, public and private funding, and lay interest. The A to Z of Ancient Mesoamerica covers some of the major discoveries throughout ancient Mesoamerica from the last 100 years. The results of previous and continuing research and explorations, plus recent interpretations of ancient cultures and new work at archaeological sites in Mesoamerica are summarized here. Included in this volume are information and insights on archaeological sites, material culture, social and economic organization, religion and belief systems, and the social history of ancient Mesoamerica. The entries contain geographical, chronological, historical, and interpretive data that serve as a condensed and accessible resource of reference material. Also presented here are select historical personages of ancient times and some brief notes on their lives and accomplishments taken from hieroglyphic texts, painted books or codices, and written documents and oral histories from the colonial period. With a bibliography and chronology, this text will be the perfect starting point for high school or undergraduate research, and a helpful ready-reference for more experienced scholars.
