Cultural Continuity in Mesoamerica
Cultural Continuity in Mesoamerica

Author: David L. Browman

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2011-05-12

Total Pages: 453

ISBN-13: 3110807777

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Of archaeological evidence from the Valsequillo region, Puebla, Mexico / Cynthia Irwin-Williams -- The origin of Zea mays / George W. Beadle -- Obsidian exchange networks: inferences and speculation on the development of social organization in formative Mesoamerica / Jane Wheeler Pires-Ferreira -- Shell exchange networks in formative Mesoamerica / Jane Wheeler Pires-Ferreira -- Mossbauer spectral analysis of Olmec iron ore mirrors: new evidence of formative period exchange networks in Mesoamerica / Jane Wheeler Pires-Ferreira and Billy Joe Evans -- The significance of the 'epiclassic' period in Mesoamerican prehistory / Malcolm C. Webb -- Ports of trade in Mesoamerica: a reappraisal / Frances Frei Berdan -- The ancient Maya in light of their ethnographic present / James C. Gifford -- Ideas concerning Maya concepts of the future / James C. Gifford -- Ethnographic realities of Mayan prehistory / Jeffrey C. Howry -- Mesoamericans as cultural brokers in northern New Spain / John Hobgood and Carroll L. Riley -- Toward the reconstruction of the Olmec mythological system / R.V. Kinzhalov -- Maya and Teotihuacan traits in classic Maya vase painting of the Peten / Jacinto Quirarte -- The Aztec system of writing: problems of research / Joaquin Galarza -- The deciphering of glyphs representing Mexica governmental titles / Horacio Corona Olea -- The Aztec day names / Herbert Landar -- The relationship between painting and scripts / Jorge Elliott -- Petroglyphs of the Antilles / Ripley P. Bullen -- Contribution to the study of cultural sequences in the central area of Costa Rica / Carlos H. Aguilar.

Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage
Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage

Author: David Carrasco

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780870816376

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For more than a millennium the great Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan (c. 150 B.C.E. - 750 C.E.) has been imagined and reimagined by a host of subsequent cultures, including our own. Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage engages the subject of the unity and diversity of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica by focusing on the classic heritage of this ancient city. This new volume is the product of several years of research by members of Princeton University's Moses Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project and Mexico's Proyecto Teotihuacán. Offering a variety of disciplinary perspectives - including the history of religions, anthropology, archaeology, and art history - and a wealth of new data, Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage examines Teotihuacan's rippling influence across Mesoamerican time and space, including important patterns of continuity and change, and its relationships, both historical and symbolic, with Tenochtitlan, Cholula, and various Maya communities. The contributors to Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage offer a wide range of individual interpretations, but they agree that Teotihuacan, more than any other pre-Hispanic center, was a paradigmatic source that formed the art and architecture, cosmology and ritual life, and conceptions of urbanism and political authority for significant parts of the Mesoamerican world. This great city achieved the prestige of being the site of the creation of the cosmos and of effective social and political space in Mesoamerica through its capacity to symbolize, perform, and export its imperial authority. These essays reveal the different ways in which Teotihuacan's classic heritage both fed and fed on the dynamic interactivity of the entire area. Whether or not a paradigm shift in Mesoamerican studies is taking place, certainly a new contextual understanding of Teotihuacan and the diversities and unities of Mesoamerica is emerging in these pages.

A Companion to Mexican History and Culture
A Companion to Mexican History and Culture

Author: William H. Beezley

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-03-16

Total Pages: 701

ISBN-13: 1444340581

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A Companion to Mexican History and Culture features 40 essays contributed by international scholars that incorporate ethnic, gender, environmental, and cultural studies to reveal a richer portrait of the Mexican experience, from the earliest peoples to the present. Features the latest scholarship on Mexican history and culture by an array of international scholars Essays are separated into sections on the four major chronological eras Discusses recent historical interpretations with critical historiographical sources, and is enriched by cultural analysis, ethnic and gender studies, and visual evidence The first volume to incorporate a discussion of popular music in political analysis This book is the receipient of the 2013 Michael C. Meyer Special Recognition Award from the Rocky Mountain Conference on Latin American Studies.

The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology
The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology

Author: Deborah L. Nichols

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-10-18

Total Pages: 996

ISBN-13: 0195390938

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The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology provides a current and comprehensive guide to the recent and on-going archaeology of Mesoamerica. Though the emphasis is on prehispanic societies, this Handbook also includes coverage of important new work by archaeologists on the Colonial and Republican periods. Unique among recent works, the text brings together in a single volume article-length regional syntheses and topical overviews written by active scholars in the field of Mesoamerican archaeology. The first section of the Handbook provides an overview of recent history and trends of Mesoamerica and articles on national archaeology programs and practice in Central America and Mexico written by archaeologists from these countries. These are followed regional syntheses organized by time period, beginning with early hunter-gatherer societies and the first farmers of Mesoamerica and concluding with a discussion of the Spanish Conquest and frontiers and peripheries of Mesoamerica. Topical and comparative articles comprise the remainder of Handbook. They cover important dimensions of prehispanic societies—from ecology, economy, and environment to social and political relations—and discuss significant methodological contributions, such as geo-chemical source studies, as well as new theories and diverse theoretical perspectives. The Handbook concludes with a section on the archaeology of the Spanish conquest and the Colonial and Republican periods to connect the prehispanic, proto-historic, and historic periods. This volume will be a must-read for students and professional archaeologists, as well as other scholars including historians, art historians, geographers, and ethnographers with an interest in Mesoamerica.

Mesoamerican Elites
Mesoamerican Elites

Author: Diane Z. Chase

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2003-03-01

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 9780806135427

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In Mesoamerican Elites, Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase present a wide variety of essays, all of which evaluate current archaeological knowledge of the privileged ruling classes, or elites, in Mesoamerica. Some experts argue that Mesoamerican societies consisted only of elites and peasants, while others argue that considerable intermediate social levels also existed. In light of such diverse opinions, this volume addresses problems in the interpretation of archaeological evidence regarding ancient Mesoamerican social structure.

Prehistoric Mesoamerica
Prehistoric Mesoamerica

Author: Richard E. W. Adams

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13: 9780806137025

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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.

Mesoamerican Archaeology
Mesoamerican Archaeology

Author: Lisa Overholtzer

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-02-22

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1119160928

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A unique and wide-ranging introduction to the major prehispanic and colonial societies of Mexico and Central America, featuring new and revised material throughout Mesoamerican Archaeology: Theory and Practice, Second Edition, provides readers with a diverse and well-balanced view of the archaeology of the indigenous societies of Mexico and Central America, helping students better understand key concepts and engage with contemporary debates and issues within the field. The fully updated second edition incorporates contemporary research that reflects new approaches and trends in Mesoamerican archaeology. New and revised chapters from first-time and returning authors cover the archaeology of Mesoamerican cultural history, from the early Gulf Coast Olmec, to the Classic and Postclassic Maya, to the cultures of Oaxaca and Central Mexico before and after colonization. Presenting a wide range of approaches that illustrate political, socio-economic, and symbolic interpretations, this textbook: Encourages students to consider diverse ways of thinking about Mesoamerica: as a linguistic area, as a geographic region, and as a network of communities of practice Represents a wide spectrum of perspectives and approaches to Mesoamerican archaeology, including coverage of the Postclassic and Colonial periods Enables readers to think critically about how explanations of the past are produced, verified, and debated Includes accessible introductory material to ensure that students and non-specialists understand the chronological and geographic frameworks of the Mesoamerican tradition Discusses recent developments in the contemporary theory and practice of Mesoamerican archaeology Presents new and original research by a team of internationally recognized contributors Mesoamerican Archaeology: Theory and Practice, Second Edition, is ideal for use in undergraduate courses on the archaeology of Mexico and Central America, as well as for broader courses on the archaeology of the Americas.

Chocolate in Mesoamerica
Chocolate in Mesoamerica

Author: Cameron L. McNeil

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 542

ISBN-13: 9780813029535

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New models of research and analysis, as well as breakthroughs in deciphering Mesoamerican writing, have recently produced a watershed of information on the regional use and importance of cacao, or chocolate as it is commonly called today. McNeil brings together scholars in the fields of archaeology, history, art history, linguistics, epigraphy, botany, chemistry, and cultural anthropology to explore the domestication, preparation, representation, and significance of cacao in ancient and modern communities of the Americas, with a concentration on its use in Mesoamerica. Cacao was used by many cultures in the pre-Columbian Americas as an important part of rituals associated with birth, coming of age, marriage, and death, and was strongly linked with concepts of power and rulership. While Europeans have for hundreds of years claimed that they introduced “chocolate” as a sauce for foods, evidence from ancient royal tombs indicates cacao was used in a range of foods as well as beverages in ancient times. In addition, the volume’s authors present information that supports a greater importance for cacao in pre-Columbian South America, where ancient vessels depicting cacao pods have recently been identified. From the botanical structure and chemical makeup of Theobroma cacao and methods of identifying it in the archaeological record, to the importance of cacao during the Classic period in Mesoamerica, to the impact of European arrival on the production and use of cacao, to contemporary uses in the Americas, this volume provides a richly informed account of the history and cultural significance of chocolate.

Historical Dictionary of Mesoamerica
Historical Dictionary of Mesoamerica

Author: Walter Robert Thurmond Witschey

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 447

ISBN-13: 081087167X

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Mesoamerica is one of six major areas of the world where humans independently changed their culture from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle into settled communities, cities, and civilization. In addition to China (twice), the Indus Valley, the Fertile Crescent of southwest Asia, Egypt, and Peru, Mesoamerica was home to exciting and irreversible changes in human culture called the "Neolithic Revolution." The changes included domestication of plants and animals, leading to agriculture, husbandry, and eventually sedentary village life. These developments set the stage for the growth of cities, social stratification, craft specialization, warfare, writing, mathematics, and astronomy, or what we call the rise of civilization. These changes forever transformed humankind. The Historical Dictionary of Mesoamerica covers the history of Mesoamerica through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and over 900 cross-referenced dictionary entries covering the major peoples, places, ideas, and events related to Mesoamerica. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Mesoamerica.

Continuities and Changes in Maya Archaeology
Continuities and Changes in Maya Archaeology

Author: Charles Golden

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-03

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1135946078

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This book presents the current state of Maya archaeology by focusing on the history of the field for the last 100 years, present day research, and forward looking prescription for the direction of the field.