Best of
Archaeology

1992

An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya


Mary Ellen Miller - 1992
    Yet, until now, no single-volume introduction has existed to act as a guide to this labyrinthine symbolic world. In The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya nearly 300 entries, from accession to yoke, describe the main gods and symbols of the Olmecs, Zapotecs, Maya, Teotihuacanos, Mixtecs, Toltecs, and Aztecs. Topics range from jaguar and jester gods to reptile eye and rubber, from creation accounts and sacred places to ritual practices such as bloodletting, confession, dance, and pilgrimage. Two introductory essays provide succinct accounts of Mesoamerican history and religion, while a substantial bibliographical survey directs the reader to original sources and recent discussions. Dictionary entries are illustrated with photographs and specially commissioned line drawings. This authoritative work serves as a standard reference for students, scholars, and travelers.

Breaking the Maya Code


Michael D. Coe - 1992
    Among the more exciting advances to be described are: the discovery of the specific Maya language and sophisticated grammar used by the ancient scribes on stone monuments and painted vases;  archaeological explorations of tombs and buildings of the ancient founders of the great city of Copan, whose very existence had been predicted by epigraphers through glyphic decipherment; the realization that many small city-states were dominated by two rival giants, Tikal and Calakmul, through a potent combination of military conquest, diplomacy, and royal marriages.

Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary


Jeremy A. Black - 1992
    This book offers an introductory guide to the beliefs and customs of the ancient Mesopotamians, as revealed in their art and their writings between about 3000 B.C. and the advent of the Christian era. Gods, goddesses, demons, monsters, magic, myths, religious symbolism, ritual, and the spiritual world are all discussed in alphabetical entries ranging from short accounts to extended essays. Names are given in both their Sumerian and Akkadian forms, and all entries are fully cross-referenced. A useful introduction provides historical and geographical background and describes the sources of our knowledge about the religion, mythology and magic of "the cradle of civilisation."

Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human


Richard E. Leakey - 1992
    Richard Leakey's personal account of his fossil hunting and landmark discoveries at Lake Turkana, his reassessment of human prehistory based on new evidence and analytic techniques, and his profound pondering of how we became "human" and what being "human" really means.

Lords of Sipan: A Tale of Pre-Inca Tombs, Archaeology, and Crime


Sidney D. Kirkpatrick - 1992
    When Dr. Walter Alva, director of the Bruning Museum in Peru, received an urgent call from the police, he had no idea that he would soon be in charge of excavatinghat his life would soon be in grave danger. Color photos; maps and illustrations.

Greek Art and Archaeology


John Griffiths Pedley - 1992
    3000 to ca. 30 BC) -- and by medium. Throughout, it blends factual information with stimulating interpretation and juxtaposes long-standing notions with the latest archaeological discoveries and hypotheses.

A Field Guide to Rock Art Symbols of the Greater Southwest


Alex Patterson - 1992
    The Field Guide brings together 600 commentaries on specific symbols by over 100 archaeologists, researchers, and Native American informants. Covers the northern states of Mexico to Utah and from California to Colorado.

A Record of Cambodia: The Land and Its People


Zhou Daguan - 1992
    This is the Chinese envoy, Zhou Daguan, who visited Angkor in 1296-97 and wrote A Record of Cambodia: The Land and Its People after his return to China. To this day Zhou's description of the royal palace, sacred buildings, women, traders, slaves, hill people, animals, landscapes, and everyday life remains a unique portrait of thirteenth-century Angkor at a time when its splendors were still intact.Very little is known about Zhou Daguan. He was born on or near the southeastern coast of China, and was probably a young man when he traveled to Cambodia by boat. After returning home he faded into obscurity, though he seems to have lived on for several decades. Much of the text of Zhou's book has been lost over the centuries, but what remains gives us a lively sense of Zhou the man as well as of Angkor.In this edition, Peter Harris translates Zhou Daguan's work directly from Chinese to English to be published for the first time. Earlier English versions depended on a French translation done over a century ago, and lost much of the feeling of the original as a result. This entirely new rendering, which draws on a range of available versions of the Zhou text, brings Zhou's many observations vividly and accurately back to life. An introduction and extensive notes help explain the text and put it in the context of the times.

Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World


John G. Gager - 1992
    These curses or binding spells, commonly called defixiones were intended to bring other people under the power and control of those who commissioned them. More than a thousand such texts, written between the 5th Century B.C.E. and the 5th Century C.E., have been discovered from North Africa to England, and from Syria to Spain. Extending into every aspect of ancient life--athletic and theatrical competitions, judicial proceedings, love affairs, business rivalries, and the recovery of stolen property--they shed light on a new dimension of classical study previously inaccessible. Here, for the first time, these texts have been translated into English with a substantial translator's introduction revealing the cultural, social, and historical context for the texts. This book will interest historians, classicists, scholars of religion, and those concerned with ancient magic.

Age of the Great Goddess: Ancient Roots of the Emerging Feminine Consciousness


Marija Gimbutas - 1992
    On "The Age of the Great Goddess," Marija Gimbutas, Professor Emeritus of Archeology at UCLA, uncovers the rich world of this lost culture, documenting her ideas with a lifetime of research and discovery. The story of the audio session begins in the 1920s, when Marija Gimbutas was a young girl living in Lithuania. Gimbutas was fascinated with the folk tales of the region, where Christianity was introduced relatively late (the 16th century). Many of these stories concerned the "Old Religion" and the Great Goddess--and were passed down as folklore from before the birth of Christ.After training as an archeologist, Gimbutas led five expeditions over three decades to explore the origins of the earliest European religions. What emerged from her life's work is evidence of an advanced culture, based not on weapons and fear, but on the presence of a unique female figure symoblizing a sacred union with all of nature. "The Age of the Great Goddes" describes the dramatic findings of Marija Gimbutas, and her quest for a sacred heritage lost in antiquity.

Celtic Design: Animal Patterns


Aidan Meehan - 1992
    Tracing the development of zoomorphic decoration, Aidan Meehan shows how we can re-learn this traditional art language, whose motifs range from griffins to greyhounds. Dynamic and ingenious animal patterns from all over Northern Europe are illustrated, their construction explained in detail, and suggestions made for exciting variations, as we are invited to share in this rediscovery and adaptation of long-forgotten designs.With over 400 illustrationsOn the cover: Hound-and-Heron Panel detail by Aidan Meehan

The Monuments of Syria


Ross Burns - 1992
    Until now, however, they have been little known and rarely visited. Only a handful of sites are familiar from travel literature: the Roman desert city of Palmyra, the Crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers, and the great Ummayad Mosque of Damascus. This is the definitive historical guide to Syria.

The Aztecs


Richard F. Townsend - 1992
    Beginning with the story of the Spanish conquest, the text then charts the rise of the Aztecs from humble nomads to empire builders. Within 100 years they established the largest empire in Mesoamerican history and, at Tenochtitlan, built a vast city in a lake, a Venice of the New World. This revised edition has been updated, assimilating information from archaeological excavations and ethnohistoric studies, and widening the picture of Aztec culture beyond their cities. Additional material on topics ranging from local crafts, trade, agriculture and food to architecture, society and women's roles depicts the richness of life in villages and regional centres. Illustrations of archaeological sites, pictorial manuscripts and monuments enhance the narrative.

People of the Sea: The Search for the Philistines


Trude Dothan - 1992
    The Bible characterized them as cunning pagan warmongers, the ancient Egyptians as pirates and marauders. In today's language, a "philistine" is an uncouth, uncultured person.Thanks to the work of Trude Dothan and Moshe Dothan, three thousand years of bad press are at last giving way to a wholly different picture of the Philistines. Through their excavations and other studies, these two eminent archaeologists have unearthed startling answers to some of the great mysteries of biblical history, revealing the Philistines as a highly civilized people. They were advanced artisans and craftsmen, sophisticated architects and ecologically minded town planners.One of the Aegean Sea Peoples who settled on the southern coast of Canaan at the end of the twelfth century B.C., the Philistines entered history as the main adversaries of the Israelites, stigmatized by the wicked Delilah and the arrogant Goliath. While the nature of their written language is still a mystery, the nature of their civilization is not. The remains of monumental buildings, a flourishing olive-oil industry, cast bronze, iron, and ivory artifacts, weaving looms, wine presses, and a wide range of artistically distinctive pottery urge us to make a historical reassessment.In People of the Sea, the world's preeminent authorities on Philistine history and culture provide the first popular account of their ground-breaking work. Handsomely illustrated with line drawings, photographs, and maps, the book interweaves a fascinating history of the rise and fall of the Philistines with the first-person experiences of archaeologists at work. The result is a work that not only dramatically changes our understanding of an important and legendary era but also serves to illuminate an ancient civilization long lost to history.

From Viking to Crusader: The Scandinavians and Europe 800-1200


Else Roesdahl - 1992
    The dramatic history of the Vikings: their invasion of parts of England and Normandy, their trade routes through Russia to Byzantium, their founding of a new republic in Iceland, and further explorations westward is legendary. Described here by scholars from fifteen countries and richly illustrated with superb examples of coins, gold and silver jewelry, manuscripts and maps, ships and weaponry, textiles and household objects, the Viking culture emerges as highly developed and complex. Their domestic resources of virtually unlimited supplies of fish and game, furs, wool, wood and iron, together with their skilled craftsmanship, refined artistic sensibilities, social and political organization, adventurousness and bravery, allowed the Vikings to make their influence felt all over Europe for almost 300 years. This book also tells the story of how the Scandinavian countries became Christian nations and entered into the full community of Christian Europe, receiving and giving to the civilization of Europe.

Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage


William L. Rathje - 1992
    Rubbish! is their witty and erudite investigation into all aspects of the phenomenon of garbage. Rathje and Murphy show what the study of garbage tells us about a population’s demographics and buying habits. Along the way, they dispel the common myths about our “garbage crisis”—about fast-food packaging and disposable diapers, about biodegradable garbage and the acceleration of the average family’s garbage output. They also suggest methods for dealing with the garbage that we do have.

A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome


L. Richardson Jr. - 1992
    It provides a concise history of each, with measurements, dates, and citations of significant ancient and modern sources.

An Aerial Atlas of Ancient Crete


J. Wilson Myers - 1992
    Using twin cameras suspended from a 33-foot, four-finned balloon, Wilson and Ellie Myers have been able to photograph 44 archaeological sites on Crete from a much lower altitude than is possible from helicopters or airplanes. The result is stunning. The breathtaking high-resolution photographs reveal new information and correct mistaken assumptions about these ancient sites. The Atlas will cause scholars to rethink their notions about the Minoan culture of Crete, which with its linear A writing, widespread sea trade, elaborate palaces, and unique art was crucial to the development of western civilization. For archaeologists of the future, the Atlas photographs preserve important information that is being lost each year through gradual erosion of the sites.For each site entry there are aerial views and a corresponding drawn plan, each shedding light on the other; a detailed description of the site (its significance, relationship to the local topography and geology, and excavation history); and a comprehensive research bibliography. The descriptions prepared by the international community of Cretan archaeologists under the guidance of regional specialist Gerald Cadogan reflect the latest available information on the sites of the Minoans and those who succeeded them. Indeed, the text entries and the chapter on Crete by Cadogan are in themselves a major contribution to scholarship.Together, text and photographs, which offer a unique grouping of related sites for comparative study, provide a significant advance in archaeological method. The work will be welcomed by archaeologists in the field as well as by scholars of ancient Greek civilization. With its introductory chapters, accessible style, and magnificent photographs, the Atlas will also appeal to the archaeological tourist and the armchair traveler.

Principles of Geoarchaeology: A North American Perspective


Michael R. Waters - 1992
    While a number of previous books have provided broad geographic and temporal treatments of geoarchaeology, this new volume presents a single author's view intended for North American archaeologists. Waters deals with those aspects of geoarchaeology—stratigraphy, site formation processes, and landscape reconstruction—most fundamental to archaeology, and he focuses on the late Quaternary of North America, permitting in-depth discussions of the concepts directly applicable to that research. Assuming no prior geologic knowledge on the part of the reader, Waters provides a background in fundamental geological processes and the basic tools of geoarchaeology. He then proceeds to relate specific physical processes, microenvironments, deposits, and landforms associated with riverine, desert, lake, glacial, cave, coastal, and other environments to archaeological site formation, location, and context. This practical volume illustrates the contributions of geoarchaeological investigations and demonstrates the need to make such studies an integral part of archaeological research. The text is enhanced by more than a hundred line drawings and photographs. CONTENTS 1. Research Objectives of Geoarchaeology 2. Geoarchaeological Foundations: The Archaeological Site Matrix: Sediments and Soils / Stratigraphy / The Geoarchaeological Interpretation of Sediments, Soils, and Stratigraphy 3. Alluvial Environments: Streamflow / Sediment Erosion, Transport, and Deposition / Alluvial Environments: Rivers, Arroyos, Terraces, and Fans / Alluvial Landscapes Evolution and the Archaeological Record / Alluvial Landscape Reconstruction 4. Eolian Environments: Sediment Erosion, Transport, and Deposition / Sand Dunes / Loess and Dust / Stone Pavements / Eolian Erosion / Volcanic Ash (Tephra) 5. Springs, Lakes, Rockshelters, and Other Terrestrial Environments: Springs / Lakes / Slopes / Glaciers / Rockshelters and Caves 6. Coastal Environments: Coastal Processes / Late Quaternary Sea Level Changes / Coastal Environments / Coastal Landscape Evolution and the Archaeological Record / Coastal Landscape Reconstruction 7. The Postburial Disturbance af Archaeological Site Contexts: Cryoturbation / Argilliturbation / Graviturbation / Deformation / Other Physical Disturbances / Floralturbation / Faunalturbation 8. Geoarchaeological Research Appendix A: Geoarchaeological Studies Illustrating the Effects of Fluvial Landscape Evolution on the Archaeological Record Appendix B: Geoarchaeological Studies Illustrating Site-Specific Synchronic and Diachronic Alluvial Landscape Reconstructions Appendix C: Geoarchaeological Studies Illustrating Regional Synchronic and Diachronic Alluvial Landscape Reconstructions

Illustrated Key to Skulls of Genera of North American Land Mammals


J. Knox Jones Jr. - 1992
    This manual is a well-illustrated key, useful for identifying mammals through cranial characteristics. It also contains line-drawings, and many photographs to aid in identifying related genera. The distribution, diversity, and characteristics of each order and family of land mammals found in North American and to the north of Mexico are briefly discussed. J. Knox Jones, Jr., has been a practicing mammalogist for more than 40 years. Currently he is a Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Biological Sciences at Texas Tech and a Curator in the Museum there. Jones has authored or edited 14 books among is more than 350 publications, and has studied mammals on five continents. He is a past president of the American Society of Mammalogists and has been awarded the C. Hart Merriam Award, the H. H. T. Jackson Award, and Honorary Membership by that society. In 1992, he was selected as Texas Distinguished Scientist of the Year by the Texas Academy of Science, and was awarded the Donald W. Tinkle Research Excellence Award by the Southwestern Association of Naturalists.Richard W. Manning is a member of the faculty of Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. He has authored more than 40 publications, most of which deal with mammals. Manning has had considerable instructional experience in laboratories in mammalogy, and has been cited for his excellence in teaching. He is also an avid field biologist, and thus has studied mammals in their natural habitats as well. Manning took most of the photographs used in this laboratory manual and made many of the line drawings.

Baths and Bathing in Classical Antiquity


Fikret Yegül - 1992
    It considers bath building as one of the most significant architectural types of antiquity and bathing as a richly revealing social custom.

Indian Rock Art of the Columbia Plateau


James D. Keyser - 1992
    At once an irreplaceable yet fragile cultural resource, it documents Native histories, customs, and visions through thousands of years.This valuable reference and guidebook addresses basic questions of what petroglyphs and pictographs are, how they were produced, and how archaeologists classify and date them. James Keyser identifies five regions on the Columbia Plateau, each with its own variant of the rock art style identifiable as belonging exclusively to the region. He describes for each region the setting and scope of the rock art along with its design characteristics and possible meaning. Through line drawings, photographs, and detailed maps he provides a guide to the sites where rock art can be viewed.In western Montana, rock art motifs express the ritualistic seeking of a spirit helper from the natural world. In interior British Columbia, rayed arcs above the heads of human figures demonstrate possession of a guardian spirit. Twin figures on the central Columbia Plateau reveal another belief--the special power of twins--and hunting scenes celebrate success of the chase. The grimacing evocative face of Tsagiglalal, in lower Columbia pictographs, testifies to the Plateau Indians' "death cult" response to the European diseases that decimated their villages between 1700 and 1840. On the southeastern Plateau, images of horse-back riders mark the adoption, after 1700 of the equestrian and cultural habits of the northwestern Great Plains Indians.Despite geographic differences in emphasis, similarities in design and technique link the drawings of all five regions. Human figures, animals depicting numerous species on the Plateau, geometric motifs, mysterious beings, and tally marks, whether painted or carved, appear throughout the Columbia Plateau.

Howard Carter: The Path to Tutankhamun


T.G.H. James - 1992
    However, until now the marvelous story of Carter’s quest for Tutankhamun and its culmination in his unearthing of the intact, treasure-filled tomb has been told without a reliable account of the man behind the discovery and the myths that have surrounded it. Carter's legendary discovery in the Valley of the Kings and his painstaking clearance of the intact royal burial are the topic of this definitive biography.

Animals in Celtic Life and Myth


Miranda Aldhouse-Green - 1992
    Such was their importance to this society, that an intimate relationship between humans and animals developed, in which the Celts believed many animals to have divine powers. In Animals in Celtic Life and Myth, Miranda Green draws on evidence from early Celtic documents, archaeology and iconography to consider the manner in which animals formed the basis of elaborate rituals and beliefs. She reveals that animals were endowed with an extremely high status, considered by the Celts as worthy of respect and admiration.

The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant


Graham Hancock - 1992
    To believers, the Ark was the vessel holding the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. The bible contains hundreds of references to the Ark's power to level mountains, destroy armies & lay waste to cities. The Ark itself, however, mysteriously disappears from recorded history sometime after the building of the Temple of Solomon. After ten years of searching thru archives in Europe & the Middle East, as well as braving the real-life dangers of a bloody civil war in Ethiopia, Hancock has succeeded where scores of others have failed. This intrepid journalist has tracked down the true story behind the legends--revealing where the Ark is today, how it got there & why it remains hidden. Part fascinating scholarship, part entertaining adventure yarn, tying together some of the most intriguing tales of all time--from the Knights Templar & Prester John to Parsival & the Holy Grail--this book will appeal to anyone fascinated by the revelation of hidden truths.

The Deer Goddess Of Ancient Siberia: A Study In The Ecology Of Belief (Studies In The History Of Religions)


Esther Jacobson - 1992
    By examining the symbolic structures revealed in the art and archaeology of the Early Nomads, the author challenges existing theories regarding Early Nomadic cosmology. The reconstruction of meanings embedded in the deer image carries the investigation back to rock carvings, paintings, and monolithic stelae of South Siberia and northern Central Asia, from the Neolithic period down through the early Iron Age. The succession of images dominating that artistic tradition is considered against the background of cultures including the Baykal Neolithic Afanasevo, Okunev, Andronovo, and Karasuk evolving from a hunting-fishing dependency to a dependency on livestock. The archaic mythic traditions of specific Siberian groups are also found to lend critical detail to the changing symbolic systems of South Siberia."

The Age of Sutton Hoo: The Seventh Century in North-Western Europe


Martin Carver - 1992
    Myths, king-lists, place-names, sagas, palaces, belt-buckles, middens and graves are all grist to the archaeologist's mill. This book celebrates the anniversary of the discovery of that most famous burial at Sutton Hoo. Fifty years ago this great treasure, now in the British Museum, was unearthed from the centre of a ninety-foot-long ship buried on remote Suffolk heathland. Included in this volume are 23 wide-ranging essays on the Age of Sutton Hoo and director Martin Carver's summary of the latest excavations, which represent the current state of knowledge about this extraordinary site. That it still has secrets to reveal is shown by the last-minute discovery of a striking burial of a young noble with his horse and grave goods. M.O.H. CARVER is Professor of Archaeology at York University, and Director of the Sutton Hoo Research Project.

The Old Beloved Path: Daily Life among the Indians of the Chattahoochee River Valley


William W. Winn - 1992
    Organized chronologically, the book describes the region’s cultures in the Early, Middle, and Late Prehistoric periods. Fascinating essays illuminate origin myths, clan structures, townships (or tulwa), spirituality, diseases and medicine, social customs, and sports and games. The Old Beloved Path also describes foodways—native plants gathered and cultivated for food and game animals. Also included is a rich discussion of material culture and natural materials native Americans collected for food, clothing, shelter, and tools.

Rivers of Change: Essays on Early Agriculture in Eastern North America


Bruce D. Smith - 1992
    Focusing on data derived from the expanding discipline of archaeobotany, Bruce D. Smith presents a provocative alternative theory of how prehistoric North American societies developed from hunting and gathering systems to food-producing economies. Eastern North America remains one of the world's best-documented independent centers of domestication and will clearly be the focus of sustained and rewarding research for many years to come.

Building in England Down to 1540: A Documentary History


L.F. Salzman - 1992
    It provides a compendious account, firmly grounded in contemporary documentary evidence of architecture and music practice until the mid-sixteenth century. It examines the organization and economics of thebuilding trade, its raw materials and their sources, the tools and techniques of the many and diverse workers involved, and the decoration of the finished structures. Original documents, including building and craftsmen's contracts, are reprinted in the Appendices, making this an invaluable sourcefor anyone interested in medieval architecture.

The Buried Past: An Archaeological History of Philadelphia


John L. Cotter - 1992
    Based on more than thirty years of intensive archaeological investigations in the greater Philadelphia area, this study contains the first record of many nationally important sites linking archaeological evidence to historical documentation, including Interdependence and Valley Forge National Historical Parks. It provides an archaeological tour through the houses and life-ways of both the great figures and the common people. It reveals how people dined, what vessels and dishes they used, and what their trinkets (and secret sins) were.

Before Writing, Vol. II: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens


Denise Schmandt-Besserat - 1992
    It points out that when writing began in Mesopotamia it was not, as previously thought, a sudden and spontaneous invention. Instead, it was the outgrowth of many thousands of years' worth of experience at manipulating symbols. In Volume I: From Counting to Cuneiform, Denise Schmandt-Besserat describes how in about 8000 B.C., coinciding with the rise of agriculture, a system of counters, or tokens, appeared in the Near East. These tokens—small, geometrically shaped objects made of clay—represented various units of goods and were used to count and account for them. The token system was a breakthrough in data processing and communication that ultimately led to the invention of writing about 3100 B.C. Through a study of archaeological and epigraphic evidence, Schmandt-Besserat traces how the Sumerian cuneiform script, the first writing system, emerged from a counting device. In Volume II: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens, Schmandt-Besserat presents the primary data on which she bases her theories. These data consist of several thousand tokens, catalogued by country, archaeological site, and token types and subtypes. The information also includes the chronology, stratigraphy, museum ownership, accession or field number, references to previous publications, material, and size of the artifacts. Line drawings and photographs illustrate the various token types.

Before Writing, Vol. I: From Counting to Cuneiform


Denise Schmandt-Besserat - 1992
    It points out that when writing began in Mesopotamia it was not, as previously thought, a sudden and spontaneous invention. Instead, it was the outgrowth of many thousands of years' worth of experience at manipulating symbols.In Volume I: From Counting to Cuneiform, Denise Schmandt-Besserat describes how in about 8000 B.C., coinciding with the rise of agriculture, a system of counters, or tokens, appeared in the Near East. These tokens—small, geometrically shaped objects made of clay—represented various units of goods and were used to count and account for them. The token system was a breakthrough in data processing and communication that ultimately led to the invention of writing about 3100 B.C. Through a study of archaeological and epigraphic evidence, Schmandt-Besserat traces how the Sumerian cuneiform script, the first writing system, emerged from a counting device.In Volume II: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens, Schmandt-Besserat presents the primary data on which she bases her theories. These data consist of several thousand tokens, catalogued by country, archaeological site, and token types and subtypes. The information also includes the chronology, stratigraphy, museum ownership, accession or field number, references to previous publications, material, and size of the artifacts. Line drawings and photographs illustrate the various token types.

Chavin And The Origins Of Andean Civilization


Richard L. Burger - 1992
    In the first detailed up-to-date treatment of Chavin, Professor Burger pays special attention to the unique character of early Andean civilization and the distinctive processes responsible for its development, arguing that Chavin civilization represents a synthesis of earlier traditions, forged through the impact of long-distance trade and a new religious ideology.

The Caddo Nation: Archaeological and Ethnohistoric Perspectives


Timothy K. Perttula - 1992
    Hester, "The Caddo Nation" investigates the early contacts between the Caddoan peoples of the present-day Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas region and Europeans, including the Spanish, French, and some Euro-Americans.Perttula's study explores Caddoan cultural change from the perspectives of both archaeological data and historical, ethnographic, and archival records. The work focuses on changes from A.D. 1520 to ca. A.D. 1800 and challenges many long-standing assumptions about the nature of these changes.

First People: The Early Indians of Virginia


Keith Egloff - 1992
    Full of stories that represent the full diversity of Virginia's Indians, past and present, this popular book remains the essential introduction to the history of Virginia Indians from the earlier times to the present day.

Islamic Ceramics


James W. Allan - 1992
    Reveals the innovations of Islamic otters who invented the blue and white - examples from the 9th to the 17th centuries.