“[This book] presents a great amount of new information for a poorly known or understood area of northern Mexico, and provides a pleasant integration of the methods and theories of anthropology, geography, and ecology in a well-organized manner. . . . This report represents an important contribution to our understanding of cultural evolution and environmental adaptation in the Valley of Sonora and lays a strong framework for future studies and discussions.”—Journal of Arizona History
This approachable book in the SAA Press Current Perspectives Series is a comprehensive synthesis of Northwest Mexico from the US border to the Mesoamerican frontier. Filling a vital gap in the regional literature, it serves as an essential reference not only for those interested in the specific history of this area of Mexico but western North America writ large. A period-by-period review of approximately 14,000 years reveals the dynamic connections that knitted together societies inhabiting the Sea of Cortez coast, the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts, and the Sierra Madre Occidental. Networks of interaction spanned these diverse ecological, topographical, and cultural terrains in the millennia following the demise of the megafauna. The authors provide a fresh perspective that refutes depictions of the Northwest as a simple filter or conduit of happenings to the north or south, and they highlight the role local motivations and dynamics played in facilitating continental-scale processes.
South of the border, a spectacular range of ancient volcanoes rises from the desert floor just a few miles from the Sea of Cortez. Virtually untraveled, the Sierra Pinacate in northwestern Mexico beckons adventurers and scientists. Here, in words and pictures, is a remarkable introduction to this place of almost surreal beauty. Sometimes veiled in clouds or dust storms, the Pinacate have long been shrouded in mystery as well. From prehistoric times until today, people of Sonora have told tales of giants, men and animals, bottomless pits, endless tunnels, hostile Indians, smoking caverns, and ever-present dangers found in the Pinacate. This book takes readers deep into the heart of this fascinating area. Julian Hayden, who worked and traveled in the Pinacate for four decades, introduces the natural history, archaeology, geology, and human history of the area. Spectacular color photographs by Jack Dykinga capture the magic and the isolation of this stunning region. Hayden's text is presented in both English and Spanish. The Mexican government has already declared the Pinacate an officially protected biosphere reserve; still pending is its inclusion in the Man and the Biosphere program of the United Nations. More than a natural history, The Sierra Pinacate is an elegant appreciation of a place of wonder.
The editors and contributors to this volume focus on the inherent political nature of archaeology and its impact on the practice of the discipline. Pointing to the discipline’s history of advancing imperialist, colonialist, and racist objectives, they insist that archaeology must rethink its muted professional stance and become more overtly active agents of change. The discipline is not about an abstract “archaeological record” but about living individuals and communities, whose lives and heritage suffer from the abuse of power relationships with states and their agents. Only by recognizing this power disparity, and adopting a political ethic for the discipline, can archaeology justify its activities. Chapters range from a critique of traditional ethical codes, to examinations of the capitalist motivations and structures within the discipline, to calls for an engaged, emancipatory archaeology that improves the lives of the people with whom archaeologists work. A direct challenge to the discipline, this volume will provoke discussion, disagreement, and inspiration for many in the field.
Histories of Maize is the most comprehensive reference source on the botanical, genetic, archaeological, and anthropological aspects of ancient maize published to date.
The publication of Volume 16 of this distinguished series brings to a close one of the largest research and documentation projects ever undertaken on the Middle American Indians. Since the publication of Volume 1 in 1964, the Handbook of Middle American Indians has provided the most complete information on every aspect of indigenous culture, including natural environment, archaeology, linguistics, social anthropology, physical anthropology, ethnology, and ethnohistory. Culminating this massive project is Volume 16, divided into two parts. Part I, Sources Cited, by Margaret A. L. Harrison, is a listing in alphabetical order of all the bibliographical entries cited in Volumes 1-11. (Volumes 12-15, comprising the Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources, have not been included, because they stand apart in subject matter and contain or constitute independent bibliographical material.) Part II, Location of Artifacts Illustrated, by Marjorie S. Zengel, details the location (at the time of original publication) of the owner of each pre-Columbian American artifact illustrated in Volumes 1-11 of the Handbook, as well as the size and the catalog, accession, and/or inventory number that the owner assigns to the object. The two parts of Volume 16 provide a convenient and useful reference to material found in the earlier volumes. The Handbook of Middle American Indians was assembled and edited at the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University with the assistance of grants from the National Science Foundation and under the sponsorship of the National Research Council Committee on Latin American Anthropology.
“Forestdale did more than any other single area to validate the emerging concept of a separate Mogollon culture, and in this compilation Haury provides the reader with not only the complete archaeological picture of this valley but also the history of the developemtn of the concept. Any Southwestern archaeologist and readers who want to stay abreast of the details of Nroth American prehistory should read this book.”—American Antiquity Classic site reports establish the Mogollon on their own cultural track distinct from the Anasazi and also document the earliest known association of tree-ring dates with pottery in the Southwest. The excavations of Mogollon sites reported on in this volume were conducted at the early (1939–1941) field schools in Forestdale, Arizona.
Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, and Paquimé are well known to tourists and scholars alike as emblems of the American Southwest. This region has been the scene of intense archaeological investigations for more than a hundred years, with more research done here than in any other part of the United States. With contributions from well-known archaeologists, "Southwest Archaeology in the Twentieth Century" reviews the histories of major archaeological topics of the region during the twentieth century, giving particular attention to the vast changes in southwestern archaeology during the later decades of the century. Included are the huge influence of field schools, the rise of cultural resource management (CRM), the uses and abuses of ethnographic analogy, the intellectual contexts of archaeology in Mexico, and current debates on agriculture, sedentism, and political complexity. This book provides an authoritative retrospective of intellectual trends as well as a synthesis of current themes in the arena of the American Southwest. -- From publisher's description.
