- ATLAS OF ANCIENT AMERICA
- Michael Coe, Dean Snow and Elizabeth Benson. Equinox/Time-Life, 1989.
Describes geography and environments of the Americas; charts the fate of native populations under European impact. Covers the earliest migrations from 'Beringia' to the end of the last Ice Age, surveys the major local cultures that flourished after Paleo-Indian groups had adapted to new local ecologies. The Atlas integrates maps based on original research, artwork reconstructions of individual settlements, with features on numerous sites: Mesa Verde, Teotihuacan, Chavin de Huantar etc., and subjects such as the Southern Cult, the Mesoamerican Ballgame, Sacred Stone. Chronological table, bibliography, gazeteer and index. 240 pages.
- PREHISTORY OF THE AMERICAS
- Stuart J. Fiedel. Cambridge UP, edition 1990.
Traces the rapid expansion of Paleo-Indian hunters; the adaptations of archaic
hunter-gatherers to post-Ice Age environments; origins and spread of farming
and village life; the rise and fall of chiefdoms and states. How population
growth, technological innovations, environmental constraints, climate change,
and social and ideological factors influenced the cultural evolution that
characterizes different regions of the New World. Includes a discussion of the
development of American archeology. Author & subject indexes. 386 pages.
- NEW WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY: Theoretical and Cultural Transformations
- Selected and introduced by Ezra B.W. Zubrow, Margaret C. Fritz and John M. Fritz. Freeman, 1974
32 articles on the major archeological finds in the New World, from the
Scientific American, 1948 to 1974. Bibliographies, index. 335 pages.
- THE MAKING OF THE PAST: THE NEW WORLD
- Warwick M. Bray, Earl H. Swanson, Ian S. Farrington. Elsevier/Phaidon, 1975.
Gives an account of pioneering explorers and archeologists, and the history
and archeology of North America, Mesoamerica, and South America; covers
the Mayan and Aztec civilisations of Central America, the Incas of the Andes
region, and North American Indian cultures, as well as less well-known
prehistoric precursors of the classic civilisations. Four 'visual stories' illustrate
the vast Mexican city of Teotihuacan; the flintworking techniques of prehistoric
peoples; the 10-12th century settlement of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico; and
the mountaintop Inca fortress-city of Machu Picchu. Further reading, glossary,
index. 151 pages.
- THE PRE-COLUMBIAN CIVILISATIONS: The World of the Maya, Aztecs and Incas
- Henri Stierlin. Sunflower Books, 1979.
Covers the Mother Culture of the Olmecs; Classic Maya ceremonial centres,
and the palaces of Uxmal; Chichen-Itza and the Maya-Toltec renaissance; the
'Cities of the Gods' Teotihuacan and Monte Alban; El Tajin, early capital of the
Totonacs; the Aztec Empire; pre-Inca civilisations in Peru - Chavin, Moche,
Chimu, and Nazca; the Inca Empire. 96 pages.
- PEOPLES OF THE SUN: The Civilizations of Pre-Columbian America
- C.A. Burland. Weidenfeld & Nicholson/BCA, 1976.
The major civilizations of Pre-Columbian America span nearly 3000 years. The
development of painting and religion in Mexico, weaving and sculpture among
the Maya, the magnificent gold work of the peoples between, the ceramics of
early Peru, and the recording systems of the Incas, are among the many
cultural high points. Includes reproductions of Mexican and Mayan codices,
the monuments of the Toltecs and Aztecs, the precious artefacts and erotic
imagery of these primitive peoples. Appendix on carbon-dating; short
bibliography; index; 240 pages.
- PLANNING AND CITIES: Urban Planning in Pre-Columbian America
- Jorge Hardoy. George Braziller Inc, 1968.
Dr Hardoy uses social and political factors - the production of goods and
services, population, labour force, power structure, etc - as the determining
criteria for a planned city, rather than merely the existence of a regular layout.
In the case of each of the classical cultures of Central and South America,he
discusses ways in which the technical capacity of the society, the
characteristics of the sites, and the material and human resources available
influenced the scale, choice of materials and tools, and design of the cities.
The process of urbanization is traced from Central Mexico to the Maya of the
Yucatan peninsula and down through the Bolivian highlands. Illustrations,
chronology, and maps between pages 49-112. Bibliography, index. 128 pages.
- MEXICO: A History in Art
- Bradley Smith. Gemini-Smith Inc, 1979.
The history of ancient and modern Mexico as shown in the sculpture and
painting of its great artists from prehistoric to modern times. How life was lived
in the first villages, the splendour of the classic city states, the tumultuous rise
of the Aztec Empire and its fall to the conquistadores. The struggle for
independence against overwhelming European power; the People's Revolution
and emergence as an influential member of the world community. Listing of
works of art, bibliography, index. 296 pages.
- THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF MEXICO: from 10,000 BC to the Present Day
- Pedro Rojas. Translated by J.M. Cohen. Paul Hamlyn, 1968.
When the conquering Spaniards arrived at the beginning of the 16th century,
they found a marvellous range of flourishing indigenous culture. Much of this
they destroyed and imposed the Spanish form of contemporary Western
civilization, but the native Mexicans successfully imbued it with their own
exuberance and individuality. In some measure they assimilated the conqueror.
The revolution of 1910 marked the entry of Mexico into the 20th century,
artistically as well as politically. Chronological table; notes on the plates and
146 plates.
- MEXICAN AND CENTRAL AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY
- Irene Nicholson. Paul Hamlyn, 1967.
The culture grew from the people's beliefs in simple things - the maize which
provided basic food, the bright stones invaders were to covet, the sun and the
rain. Out of the old stories came myths of man and his universe, sacred books
that set down the history and beliefs of a great civilsation. The illustrations are
drawn from seven cultures - Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, Totonac, Toltec
and Aztec - ranging over 2000 years. index. 141 pages.
- MARKINGS: Aerial Views of Sacred Landscapes
- Photographs by Marilyn Bridges. Phaidon, 1986.
Bridge's elegant record of the signs of ancient culture on the earth's surface - a
flight over the plains of Peru to witness the extensive spirals, 'runways' and
animal figures drawn by the Nazca Indians; flying over the Yucatan jungles to
photograph Mayan temples from low altitudes. Maria Reiche writes on the
Nazca lines, Charles Gallenkamp on Mayan sites at Yucatan and Chiapas,
Lucy Lippard on American landscapes. 104 pages.
- THE ATLAS OF MYSTERIOUS PLACES: The World's Unexplained Sacred Sites, Symbolic Landscapes, Ancient Cities and Lost Lands
- Consultant Editor: Jennifer Westwood. Marshall Editions/BCA, 1987.
Includes Palenque; Nazca; earth mounds in North America; Machu Picchu;
Chaco Canyon; Teotihuacan; Eldorado. With gazeteer, glossary, bibliography
and index. 240 pages.
- NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY, MEXICO CITY
- Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti & Licia Ragghianti Collobi. Hamlyn, 1971.
Introduction by Arthur Romano, director of the museum; details of the building
and history of the collections. Book covers the following periods: Tlatilco,
Olmec and Zapotec cultures [1100BC - 200AD]; Totonac, Teotihuacan,
Colima, Nayarit, and Zapotec cultures [200AD - 600AD]; Zapotec,
Teotihuacan, Mayan, Toltec and Huastec cultures [600AD - 1250AD]; and
Aztec, Mixtec, Huastec and Casas Grandes cultures [1250AD - 1521AD].
Index of illustrations and names. 172 pages.
- ANCIENT OAXACA: The Monte Albán State
- Blanton/Feinman/Kowalewski/Nicholas. Cambridge UP, 1999.
Mesoamerica & its pre-Hispanic civilisation /Valley of Oaxaca: a regional
setting for an early state /Origins of Monte Albán /The great transformation /
Synthesis and conclusions. Bibliographical essay; Bibliography; Index. 153 pp.
- MEXICO
- Michael D. Coe. Thames & Hudson, Third edition 1984. Paoerback 1992.
Chronological tables / Early hunters / Archaic Period / Formative Period / Early civilisations / Classic Period / Post-Classic Period: the Toltec state / Rival states / Aztec Empire. Reigning monarchs of the Aztec state.
Text references / Select bibliography / index. 180 pages.
- TREASURES OF ANCIENT MEXICO: from the National Anthropological Museum
- Maria Antonieta Cervantes, text. Crescent Books, 1978.
Study composed of three parts - 1: Prehispanic archeology, 2: the Spanish
conquest and changes it brought about, 3: an ethnographic approach to the
presentday indigenous groups, emphasizing the survival of prehispanic and
colonial cultural patterns. 96 pages.
- Living Architecture: ANCIENT MEXICAN
- Henri Stierlin, text and photographs. Macdonald, 1968.
Detailed account of pre-Columbian architecture in Mexico from its earliest
appearance in about the ninth century BC to its final manifestation under the
Aztecs in the sixteenth century AD. Legacy of the past / Common bases in pre-Columbian cultures / Birth of architecture / Birth of a capital, Teotihuacan /
Great builders of Southern Mexico and the Gulf / From Toltec invention to
Aztec synthesis. Chronological table; bibliography; list of plates; list of plans.
192 pages.
- THE CITIES OF ANCIENT MEXICO: Reconstructing a Lost World
- Jeremy A. Sabloff. Thames & Hudson, 1989.
Standard histories tend to focus on the individual progress of early societies;
this book empasizes the unity of Mexican civilisation. Includes gazetteer; list of
illustrations; index. 224 pages.
- MYSTERIES OF THE MEXICAN PYRAMIDS
- Peter Tompkins. [1976] British edition, Thames & Hudson, 1987.
Generations of explorers and scholars such as Humboldt, Stephens and
Brasseur de Bourbourg have tried to solve the mystery of the existence of the
pyramids. Theories have been advanced concerning the design of the pyramids
as mathematical computers, astronomical observatories, and foci for cosmic
and telluric forces; Tompkins discusses these and other speculations in detail.
Lavishly illustrated, with engravings, photographs, drawings and plans.
Bibliography; index. 427 pages.
- PRE-COLUMBIAN ARCHITECTURE OF MESOAMERICA
- Doris Heyden & Paul Gendrop. [1973] British Pbk, Faber & Faber/Electa, 1988.
Making full use of the results of archaeological excavations in which the latest
scientific techniques have been employed, as well as the wealth of evidence
presented by the monuments themselves, the authors describe the pre-classical
period of architecture, then give a detailed account of the classic period - the
Central Plateau of Mexico, Cholula, El Tajin, Oaxaca, Uaxactun, Tikal,
Yaxchilan, Palenque, Bonampak, Copan, Quirigua, Dzibilchaltun, Quintana
Roo, Xpuhil, Sayil, Labna, Kabah, Uxmal; and describe the post-Classic Period
in Central Mexico and in other regions. Bibliography; index. 235 pages.
- KINGDOMS OF GOLD, KINGDOMS OF JADE: The Americas before Columbus
- Brian M. Fagan. Thames & Hudson, 1991.
Understanding of the pre-Columbian civilizations has been immeasurably
enhanced by archaeological fieldwork over the last two or three decades, but
outside Mesoamerica and the Andean region, in the North American
Southwest, Midwest and Southeast, there are abundant traces of once-powerful
societies. This book attempts an 'over-view', a discussion of the history of all
American Indian cultures. Index. 240 pages.
- THE GODS & SYMBOLS OF ANCIENT MEXICO AND THE MAYA: An illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion
- Mary Miller & Karl Taube. Thames & Hudson, 1993.
Introduction on Mesoamerican culture and chronology, defines Mesoamerican
civilization: the Olmec enigma, the early Zapotecs and contemporaries, the
protoclassic Maya, the rise of Teotihuacan, the classic Zapotecs and Veracruz,
the classic Maya, early postclassic: Tula and Chichen Itza, the postclassic
Mixtecs and Aztecs.The conceptual framework of Mesoamerican religion is
outlined. Subject index; guide to sources and bibliography. 216 pages.
- WOMAN IN PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICA
- Ferdinand Anton. Translated from the German. Abner Schram, 1973.
Details the customs and lore surrounding the lives of women in a wide range of
cultural settings: from the Aztec society obsessed with predestination, in which
the citizens of every rank tried to modify the influence of unseen powers by
scrupulous adherence to a system of horoscopes set down in the 'Book of
Days', to the less pessimistic and repressive cultures of the Maya, and the
theocratic totalitarian empire of the Inca, in which the life of every citizen was
regulated and recorded, (though this warlike and paternalistic society did not
sequester women prior to marriage and held liberal attitudes toward trial
marriage and virginity). Women played a role in religious sects, as priestesses,
prostitutes and sacrificial victims, and as 'godesses' in a female pantheon.
Synoptic table; catalogue of illustrations; bibliography;illustrations. 112 pages.
- THE ART OF MESOAMERICA From Olmec to Aztec
- Mary Ellen Miller. World of Art /Thames & Hudson, 1986.
General introduction to the history of Mesoamerican art and architecture.
Bibliography; list of illustrations; index. 240 pages.
- THE ANCIENT SUN KINGDOMS OF THE AMERICAS: Aztec / Maya / Inca
- Victor Wolfgang von Hagen. [1962] Panther, 1967.
The Aztecs - "A God-tormented People"; the Mayas - "Cities of the Jungle"; the
Incas - "Kingdom of Gold". Chronology; bibliography; sources; index. 351
pages.
- WARLORDS OF THE ANCIENT AMERICAS: Central America
- Peter G. Tsouras. Arms & Armour Press, 1996.
Study of the rulers and warriors of the lands of Central America over thirteen centuries of history. The First Conquerors: Smoking Frog & the Maya Star Wars / Tolpiltzin Quetzalcoatl, Our Lord the Feathered Serpent.
The Empire Builders: Tezozomoc, Mexican Machiavelli / Nezahualcoyotl, Poet Warlord / Three Hard Men of Tenochtitlan / Mighty Grandsons of Motecuhzoma
Defeat and Counterattack: Motecuhzoma II Xocoyotl / O Mexica, Courage!
Bibliography; Index. 240 pages.
- ANCIENT ARTS OF THE AMERICAS
- G.H.S. Bushnell. [1965] Revised edition, Thames & Hudson, 1967.
This survey covers an area ranging from Wisconsin to Argentina and spans in
time the four millennia from 2500BC to the arrival of the Conquistadors. The
lesser-known achievements of peoples whose art has been overshadowed by
the more spectacular legacy of the Maya, Aztecs and Incas, are considered.
Chronology; bibliography; list of illustrations; maps; index. 288 pages.
- PRE-COLUMBIAN ART
- Esther Pasztory. Everyman Art Library, 1998.
By comparing and contrasting Andean and Mesoamerican traditions, Pasztory unlocks some of the elaborate myths and belief systems that form part of their cultures. Man in Time / An alternative path in Mesoamerican Art / Eclectic Synthesis / The Andes: Cosmic order in space / Alternative path in Andean art / Disappearance of the image. Conclusion; Timeline; Bibiography; Index. 176pp.
- THE FIRST AMERICANS: The Pre-Columbian Civilisations
- G.H.S. Bushnell. [1968]. Thames & Hudson/BCA, 1975.
Knowledge of the ancient civilisations of America has been transformed.
Radiocarbon dating has enabled many advances to be made, including the
substitution of a time scale for guesswork and the establishment of correlations
between the chronologies of different areas. Dr Bushnell concentrates on the
areas where the highest civilisations developed - Mesoamerica and the Central
Andes. Bibliography; index. 144 pages.
- THE FIRST AMERICANS
- Juan Schobinger. Wm.B.Eerdmans Publishing, Michigan, 1994.
Traces the six most important steps in the development of pre-Columbian
civilisation in the Americas.
Ancient Inhabitants of the Americas / American Neolithic / First Metropolis:
Teotihuacán / The Olmecs & the Maya / First Andean Empire: Chavin / The
People from the center of the World: Tiahuanaco. 195pp.
- TEOTIHUACAN: Art from the City of the Gods
- Edited by Kathleen Berrin & Esther Pasztory. [1993 - Exhibition catalogue for Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco] Thames & Hudson, pbk edition, 1994.
Fifteen hundred years ago, Teotihuacan was one of the world's great cities, with some 200,000 inhabitants. Then in the eighth century came a mysterious collapse - even knowledge of the original name was lost: Teotihuacan, "City of the Gods", was a title bestowed by the Aztecs six hundred years later.
Envisioning a city / Uncovering the past / Beyond Teotihuacan / Catalogue of objects. Bibliography; Index. 288pp.
- ELUSIVE TREASURE: The Story of Early Archaeologists in the Americas
- Brian Fagan. [1977] Macdonald & Jane/BCA, 1978.
Archaeology in the Americas witnessed an era of unbridled speculation,
frenzied excavations, and conflicting attitudes towards the Indians. Describes
the major controversies surrounding such varied topics as the Spaniards'
treatment of the Aztecs and Incas, the destruction of the North American
Indians' mysterious ancient burial mounds, and the discovery of the Seven Lost
Cities of Cibola. Index. 369 pages.
- MEDIEVAL AMERICAN ART: Masterpieces of the New World before Columbus
- Pal Kelemen. In 2 volumes. [1956]. Dover Reprint, 1969.
A general survey of pre-Columbian art, combining photographic material with
a full text on the artistic achievements of native Americans, from the
Southwestern United States down to the Andean regions around Lake Titicaca.
The first volume deals with architecture, sculpture and pottery; the second,
weaving, metalwork, jade and other semi-precious stones, murals and
manuscripts, and applied arts. 308 plates. Bibliography; index. 418 pages.
- DESIGN MOTIFS OF ANCIENT MEXICO
- Jorge Enciso. [1947]. Translated for Dover, 1953.
A collection of 766 vigorous primitive designs: plumed serpents, calendrical
elements, wind gods, insects, toads, lizards, birds, real and mythological
animals, flowers, demons, human heads and figures, and abstract designs from
carved seals of Aztec, Maya, Totonac, Zapotec, Olmec, Toltec and other early
Mexican cultures. (Copyright free!). 153 pages.
- THE CODEX NUTTALL: A Picture Manuscript from Ancient Mexico
- Zelia Nuttall (Ed). Dover, 1975.
A complete colour reproduction, in standard book format, of the facsimile
screenfold originally published by the Peabody Museum of American
Archaeology & Ethnology, in 1902. Arthur G. Miller contributes a preface and
introduction to this edition. The Codex was painted by Mixtec artists some time
prior to the Spanish conquest; it may have been one of two hand-painted books
sent to the Emperor Charles V by Cortes. In effect, a Book of Kings, narrating in
picture and hieroglyph the sacred history of the Mixtecs; centering around the
year 1000AD, it shows the births of kings, their marriages, offspring, and major
events in their lives. 88 plates.
- ATLAS OF ANCIENT ARCHAEOLOGY
- Jacquetta Hawkes (Ed). Heinemann, 1974.
In the section on the Americas, pp.224-264, Dr J.D. Jennings writes on North
America, and the following areas are covered: Archaic Caves of the Desert;
Adena-Hopewell burial mounds; Snaketown; Mesa Verde; Pueblo Bonito;
Bandelier National Monument; Temple mounds; and Huff Village. Dr Warwick
Bray writes on Mesoamerica: Teotihuacan; Cholula; Monte Alban; Mitla; Tikal;
Palenque; Copan; Uxmal; Chichen Itza; El Tajin; Xochicalco; Tula;
Tenochtitlan; and La Quemada. Dr Norman Hammond on South America: San
Augustin; Chavin de Huantar; Tiahuanaco; Chan Chan; Machu Picchu; and
Cuzco.
- ECHOES OF THE ANCIENT SKIES: The Astronomy of Ancient Skies
- E.C.Krupp. Harper & Row, 1983: OUP paperback 1994.
Archeoastronomy is the interdisciplinary study of ancient, prehistoric, and traditional astronomy and its cultural context. It is anthropologically oriented, and archeoastronomists are more interested in understanding how astronomy affects society and culture than in identifying astronomical alignments, although these remain an important element of research. Touches on sacred kingship, the connection between sky and earth, the Inca calendar and society, the calendar cycles of the Maya and Aztec, the celestial alignment of temples in ancient Mexico, sacred capitals and the source of world order (Tenochtitlan, Cuzco, Teotihuacan), on cosmology and why we do it.
Bibliography; index. 386 pages.
- ANCIENT AMERICA
- Jonathan Norton Leonard. Time-Life Books, 1967.
Earliest Americans / The great stone cities / An age of warrior-kings / High
culture in the Andes / Gods and Empires / Triumphs of native genius /
Horsemen from the sea / The deathless Heritage. Appendix: Chronologies.
Bibiography; index. 192 pages.
- THE GREAT ARCHAEOLOGISTS
- Edward Bacon (Ed). Martin Secker & Warburg/BCA 1976.
"The modern world's discovery of ancient civilisations as originally reported in
the pages of The Illustrated London News from 1842 to the present day".
Includes: Extinct Cities of Central America, 1843; Inca Empire, Peru,
1883;Guatavita, Colombia, 1886; Nasca, Peru, 1913;Teotihuacan,1920; Maya
ruins, 1923; Lubaantun, Br. Honduras, 1924; Maya Yucatan, 1924; Bonampak
murals, 1949; Palenque, 1953; Tikal, 1962.
- THE PLUNDERED PAST: The Traffic in Art Treasures
- Karl Meyer. Hamish Hamilton, 1973.
The documented result of three years of pioneer investigation into the illicit
traffic in stolen and pillaged antiquities. Such as the dilemma that faced the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1968, when it was debating whether it should
buy the entire facade of a Maya temple, air-lifted from a southern Campeche
site... Appendices include: Looted sites in El Peten; Pillaged Maya sites in
Mexico; Law on Importation of pre-Columbian Sculpture and murals.
Bibliography; index. 353 pages.
- STOLEN CONTINENTS: The Indian Story
- Ronald Wright. [1992] Pimlico edition, 1993.
An impassioned historical polemic, a chronicle of the devastation Europeans
have wrought in the Americas since Columbus. The invasion, resistance and
struggle for rebirth of the Aztec, Maya, Inca, Cherokee and Iroquois peoples
are charted in detail; post-Columbian heroes, ancient and modern, from
George Washington to Mario Vargas Llosa, are reprimanded for Eurocentric
pronouncements and policies. But Cortes suffered a humiliating defeat before
smallpox struck the Aztecs and destroyed half their population, and the Incas
met the same fate before Pizarro had fired a shot. By 1600, the population of
the Americas had shrunk to a tenth of its pre-Columbian size. European greed
and bigotry destroyed what disease could not - exquisite works of art were
melted for their gold, thousands of books burned, cities razed, temples
destroyed... This is a story about the destruction of civilization, not its
westward progress. Maps; bibliography; index. 424 pages.
- THE COLLAPSE OF COMPLEX SOCIETIES
- Joseph A. Tainter. [1988] Paperback edition, Cambridge UP, 1990.
Dr Tainter describes nearly two dozen cases of collapse and reviews more than
2000 years of explanations, to develop a far-reaching theory that accounts for
collapse among diverse kinds of societies, evaluating his model and clarifying
the processes of disintegration with detailed studies including the Mayan and
Chacoan collapses. References; index. 250 pages.
- TULA: The Toltec Capital of Ancient Mexico
- Richard A. Diehl. Thames & Hudson, 1983.
The rise and fall of Tula was one of the decisive processes of Mexican history,
to be compared with the emergence and decline of the great city of
Teotihuacan which preceded it, and with the growth of the capital city of the
Aztecs, now Mexico City, which came after.
Synopsis of Mesoamerican geography & culture history / Archaeological
investigations at Tula / The Toltec beginnings / The Tollan phase city / Toltec
domestic architecture / Toltec economy / Toltecs in central Mexico / Toltec
contacts with Greater Mesoamerica / Demise of the Toltecs.
Notes; Bibliography; Index. 184pp.
- PAINTED BOOKS FROM MEXICO: Codices in UK Collections & the World they
Represent
- Gordon Brotherston. British Museum Press, 1995.
The Books of Mesoamerica / Responses to Invasion / The Island Aztlan / Seven
Caves & the Chichimec / The Mixtec Lineage Tree / Quetzalcoatl's Tula /
Ritual Synthesis / Stating the Case. Appendices: Layout of texts / Transcriptions
and translations of Nahuatl glosses. Commentaries; Maps; Tables; Bibliography;
Index. 224 pp.
See also TIME-LIFE HISTORY OF THE WORLD
- BARBARIAN TIDES 1500 - 600 BC
- Awakening in the Americas: the Chavin of the Peruvian Andes, and the Olmec of the Gulf coast of Mesoamerica.
- EMPIRES BESIEGED AD 200 - 600
- A Chronicle in Clay: the Moche people / The Zapotecs in Mexico / The
Teotihuacan Empire / The rise of the Maya in Guatemala / The Paracas, direct
cultural ancestors of the Nazca.
- FURY OF THE NORTHMEN AD 800 - 1000
- Monument Builders in the Americas / The Hopewell carry Adena cultural
traditions to a new level / The Hohokam of Arizona, Mogollon of New Mexico,
and Anasazi, in the canyons and mesas of the Colorado Plateau / Rise of
Mixtec in southern Mexico / Huari-Tiahuanaco Empires in Andes.
- VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY AD 1400 -1500
- Lost Empires of the Americas: the Aztecs and the Incas.
- THE EUROPEAN EMERGENCE AD 1500 - 1600
- The conquest of the New World: Cortes and Pizarro / The gold of El Dorado.
See also DISCOVERING ART: the Illustrated Story of Art through the Ages (Purnell, 1965)
- PRIMITIVE ART NO.2: The Founders of the Great Mexican Civilisations
- Pre-Classical Mexico, period 1800BC - AD200. From a farming community there developed a hierarchical society dominated by priests with a correspondingly advanced and religious art which was greatly to influence succeeding cultures.
- PRIMITIVE ART NO.7: Central America Crossroads between North and South
- With the advantage of gold near at hand, the scattered tribes of Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica developed a skill in gold-working far beyond that they achieved in their architecture, sculpture and pottery.
See also:
- THE SEVENTY GREAT MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD: Unlocking the Secrets of Past Civilisations
- Edited by Brian M. Fagan. Thames & Hudson, 2001.
Maya Myth: Will the world end in 2012 ? / Aztlán and the Myth of the Aztec Migration / The First Americans & Kennewick Man / Were the Olmecs African ? / Lost City of the Maya: The hunt for Site Q / Mystery of the Nazca lines / Who built Tiwanaku? / Why did the Incas sacrifice children? / The Zapotec & Isthmiam Scripts / El Niños & the collapse of Moche civilization / What happened to the Anasazi?
See also:
- VIRTUAL ARCHAEOLOGY: Great Discoveries Brought to Life Through Virtual
Reality.
- Thames & Hudson, 1997.
A team of international scholars present remarkable new finds, using computer-aided techniques, including:
Pueblo Bonito and the Anasazi Indians / Cahokia: An ancient North American city / Teotihuacan: The City of the Gods /Tikal: A Jungle Metropolis / Palenque and the mysterious Pyramid / Copán: City of Art / The discovery of Tenochtitlan's Great Temple /Deciphering the Aztec Script / The Great Inca Empire of the Andes / The mysterious Nazca Lines / The Moche civilisation: The Tomb of the 'Lord of Sipán'.
THE MAYA
- THE ROUTE OF THE MAYAS
- Everyman Guide. David Campbell Publishers Ltd, 1995.
With more than 2,000 illustrations printed in full colour, is both a guide and an art book in miniature for the resident as well as the first-time visitor.
Nature / History / The Maya Today / Mayan Textiles / Architecture / The Route of the Mayas as seen by artists / The Route of the Mayas as seen by writers / Eastern Yucatan / Western Yucatan / Chiapas / Highlands of Guatemala / Southeastern Maya / Peten / Belize / Practical information.
Appendices: Bibliography; List of illustrations; index. 424 pp.
- INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN YUCATAN: in two volumes
- John L. Stephens. Original edition 1843. Unabridged reprint, Dover, 1963.
Before Stephens' expedition to Yucatan in 1841, little was known of that
country: the Mayan Indian culture had not been discovered. Stephens found,
and described in this work, 44 Maya sites. Important as it is to the world of
science, this work is nonetheless a great classic of travel and exploration.
Frederick Catherwood's drawings showing ancient ruins, interior and exterior
views of Mayan tombs, hieroglyphs and drawings found on the walls of Maya
temples have been made into engravings and reproduced in this edition. 669
pages.
- INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN YUCATAN
- John Lloyd Stephens. Condensation of the 1843 work by Karl Ackerman.
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996.
This new single-volume edition focuses on the dozen well-travelled sites that Stephens documented most thoroughly; it omits descriptions of the voyages to and from Mexico, and long historical and political digressions. Enhanced with a selection of original Catherwood drawings, as well as photographs from the 1860s to the present.
Merida / Mayapan and Uxmal /Halacho and Maxcuni / Uxmal: Explorations / Uxmal and Ticul / Uxmal: The Survey / Journey to Kabah / Kabah / Sayil / Labna / Bolonchen and Dzibilnocac /Mani / Chichen Itza / Valladolid to Cozumel / Tulum /Izamal and Ake. Index.286 pp.
- INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN CENTRAL AMERICA, CHIAPAS AND YUCATAN: in two volumes
- John L. Stephens. Original edition 1841. Unabridged reprint, Dover, 1969.
In this book Stephens describes the excitement of exploring the magnificent
ruined cities of Copan and Palenque, and his briefer excursions to Quirigua,
Patinamit, Utatlan, Gueguetenango, Ocosingo and Uxmal.
His account of his attempt to buy the site of Copan for $50 is told with the adroitness of a Mark Twain. As well as Catherwood's illustrations, this volume includes Catherwood's Biographical Notice of Stephens, and eight illustrations from the London one-volume edition of 1854. 898 pages.
- SEARCH FOR THE MAYA: The Story of Stephens & Catherwood
- Victor W. von Hagen. [1973] Reprinted with corrections, Saxon House, 1974.
Before 1840, no one really knew who the Maya were or where they came
from. In 1839 Stephens and Catherwood hacked their way through the jungle
of Central America to explore and discover the remains of the mysterious Maya
civilization. Stephens, an American lawyer, was an unusually fine writer, and
Catherwood, an English architect, was an accomplished artist.Victor von
Hagen's biographical account traces the eventful lives of the two protagonists
as explorers in Egypt and the Middle East, and on their arduous journey to the
heart of the ancient Maya civilization. 365 pages.
- THE LOST CITIES OF THE MAYAS: The life, art and discoveries of Frederick
Catherwood
- Fabio Bourbon. Swan Hill Press, 1999.
Catherwood's full biography is complemented by historical and architectural
notes and large-format reproductions of lithographs Catherwood produced
between 1840-1843 to illustrate the travel diaries of his two expeditions.
Includes rare masterpiece Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America,
Chiapas and Yucatan. 200pp.
- THE NEW ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE ANCIENT MAYA
- Jeremy A. Sabloff. Freeman, 1990.
In the last thirty years archaeology has experienced a revolution in outlook and
technique. As a new generation of archaeologists has become interested in
culture change, their discoveries - aided by the use of high-tech instruments,
chemical analyses, and new sampling strategies - have revised many of the
notions held by an earlier generation. Using the ancient Maya as a case study,
Sabloff demonstrates how new kinds of field work and recent intellectual shifts
have given birth to a radically different view of the Maya. He shows how
archaeologists have expanded their discipline from an enterprise of
impressionistic accounts and lists of dates into one that tries rigorously to
explain why cultures change. Further readings; sources; index. 193 pages.
- THE WORLD OF THE MAYA
- Vittoria Calvani. Minerva, 1976.
Puts forward the view that the Maya had no real towns, that the ruins were
mainly centres where the populace assembled on certain occasions while
living in huts on the edge of the forest. Stresses the role of the priesthood, sees
their functions including astrology, medicine and trade as well as worship, and
organising the practice of human sacrifice. 144 pages.
- MAYA ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOHISTORY
- Edited by Norman Hammond & Gordon R. Willey. Univ. of Texas Press, 1979.
Fourteen papers selected from the Second Cambridge Symposium on Recent Research in Mesoamerican Archaeology, August 1976.
Theoretical Interpretations: Priests, Peasants, and Ceremonial Centers /
Cropping Cash in theProtoclassic /A New Order and the Role of the Calendar /
Teotihuacan, internal militaristic competition and the fall of the Classic Maya /
Why the Maya kept the Short Count. Data Presentations: Prehistoric settlement
at Copan / Prehispanic terracing in the Central Maya Lowlands / Maya Vase
Painting / Palenque painting techniques / The Lagartero Figurines. Ethnohistoric
Approaches: Lobil Postclassic Phase / Coapa, Chiapas: A 16thC Coxoh Maya /
Religious Syncretism in Colonial Yucatan / Continuity in Maya writing.
Bibliography; General index; Author index. 292pp.
- THE WORLD OF THE ANCIENT MAYA
- John S. Henderson. [1981] New Edition: John Murray, 1998
Explores the ancient Maya from the earliest traces of settlement to the
Conquest in the 16th century, covering the full range of culture and the
interaction between different Maya societies. Roots of Mesoamerican
civilisation / Foundations of Maya civilisation / Early Classic Period / Late
Classic Period / Terminal Classic Period / New orientations: Postclassic Maya /
Perspectives on the Maya. Guide to Pronunciation; Chronological chart;
Bibliography; Index. 329pp.
- MAYA: THE RIDDLE AND RE-DISCOVERY OF A LOST CIVILIZATION
- Charles Gallenkamp. Frederick Muller, 1960.
The rise and decline of the Maya for the general reader. Has Brief Chronology
of the significant events of Mayan history; bibliography; index. Drawings by
John Skolle, and endpapers showing Archaeological Sites in the Maya Area, by
J. Macdonald. 219 pages.
- MAYA HISTORY & RELIGION
- J. Eric S. Thompson. [1970: Vol.99 in Civilisation of the American Indian
series] University of Oklahoma Press, pbk, 1990.
Putun expansion in Yucatan / Mayan Central Area at the Spanish Conquest and
later: A problem in demography / Eastern boundary of the Mayan area:
Placements and displacements / Tobacco / Trade relations between Highlands
& Lowlands / Lowland Maya religion: Worship - Major gods - Less known and
alien gods / Mayan creation myths. References; Index. 415 pp.
- THE MAYA
- Michael D. Coe. [1966] Revised & enlarged edition, Thames & Hudson, 1980.
Field archaeology has contributed to changing perceptions of ancient Maya
civilization, particularly the discovery that quite intensive systems of
agriculture were sometimes practiced in Classic times; this has necessitated a
revision of our ideas about Mayan population density and settlement patterns.
Other field research has pushed back the dates for earliest village life in the
lowlands. There have been exciting advances in the fields of Maya
hieroglyphic writing and iconography, and a virtual explosion in
comprehension of dynastic history, much of this research centring upon the
written records of Palenque. Bibliography; list of illustrations; index. 180 pages.
- THE MAYA (Fourth Edition, Fully Revised)
- Michael D. Coe. [1987]: Thames & Hudson, paperback reprint, 1992.
200 pages
- THE MAYA
- Norman Hammond. [1982 originally published by Rutgers UP] New edition:
The Folio Society,2000.
This edition follows text of 1994 reprinting with further minor emendations and
a new introduction by the author. Discovery / Precursors & Successors / Maya
Lands & their people /Flowering and Fall / Subsistence & Settlement / Structure
of Society / Politics & Kingship / Trade & external contacts / Architecture & Art
/ Men & Gods / The Maya Mind. Further Reading; Index. 297 pp.
- THE MAYA: Life, Myth and Art
- Timothy Laughton. Duncan Baird Publishers, 1998.
Captures the achievements of a lost civilisation through the marriage of word
and image: Image and imagination / Forest, Earth, and Stone / Time, Fate, and
Prophecy /Faces of the Divine / Symbol, Myth, and Cosmos / Images of
Sacrifice and Ritual. Glossary; Index. 144pp.
- THE RUINS OF TIME: Four and a half centuries of conquest and discovery among the Maya
- David Adamson. George Allen & Unwin/BCA, 1975.
Maya archaeology has had more than its share of eccentrics and advanturers:
Lord Kingsborough, the bogus Comte de Waldeck, Col. John Galindo, British
officers racing through the jungle from Belize to beat their presumed rival, John
Lloyd Stephens... Adamson describes the adventures and discoveries of early
and contemporary travellers, and the attempts to unravel the mystery of the
Mayan hieroglyphs. Bibliography; index. 272 pages.
- MAYA CITIES: Placemaking and Urbanization
- George F. Andrews. University of Oklahoma Press, 1975.
The author, architect and photographer, turns a trained eye on a representative
cross-section of Classic Maya settlements. Settlements are viewed as an
organisation of 'places' which human beings constructed as a means of giving
visible form to the ideas held about nature, themselves, and the universe as a
whole. 'Placemaking' can then be seen as the direct expression of the Mayas
creating a useful and comprehensible humanised environment. First part of the
book discusses Maya architecture and settlements in general, shows how small
ceremonial centres developed into large cities. Second part describes and
analyses twenty settlements from all parts of the Maya area, with emphasis on
physical form & spatial organisation, and basic differences between ceremonial
centres and urban centres clearly set forth. Bibliography; index. 468 pages.
- MAYA RUINS IN CENTRAL AMERICA IN COLOR: Tikal, Copan, and Quirigua
- William M. Ferguson & John Q. Royce. University of New Mexico, 1984.
Focussing on architectural grandeur of Tikal, Copan and Quirigua, now that
each site has been partially restored and the ruins made into national parks,
each containing numerous buildings, monuments, and sculptures.
Appendices: Key to pronunciation; Tikal chronology; Cameras, film and aerial
photography; Chronological table. Bibliography; Index. 387 pages.
- COPAN: Home of the Mayan Gods
- Francis Robicsek. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1972.
In Honduras, about a mile east of the modern town of Copan, are the
magnificent Copan ruins, one of the most beautiful centres of the Classic Maya.
Book gives a detailed description of Copan, spiritual capital of the Classic
Maya, presents recent investigations of the ruins yet standing, the art treasures
in place and scattered, and the civilisation which created them. Bibliography;
index; and appendix of hieroglyphs. 168 pages.
- TIKAL, CITY OF THE MAYA
- James & Oliver Tickell. Tauris Parke Books, 1991.
Tikal, greatest of all the Classic Maya cities, between the third and ninth
centuries AD was at the centre of a civilisation that stretched across the
tropical lowlands of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. This book
brings Tikal as it was at its most powerful, and as it is now, an eerie ruined city
in the threatened jungle. Photography by Francesco Venturi. Travellers'
information; Chronology; index. 128 pages.
- THE LORDS OF TIKAL: Rulers of an ancient Maya city
- Peter D. Harrison. Thames & Hudson, 1999.
The Maya & their civilization / Tikal discovered / Villages around the ridge: the Middle Preclassic /The move into greatness: the Late Preclassic / The birth of dynasties: the Early Classic emerges / Change and challenge: the end of the Early Classic / Architecture at Tikal / The hiatus: war and outside dominance / Return of the clan Jaguar Claw - the genius of Hasaw Chan K'awil / A family affair: Hasaw's descendants / The last three Lords / Late Classic architecture, city planning, and the growth of Tikal / Decline and fall: the last days. Visiting Tikal; Bibliography; Index. 208pp.
- SCRIBES, WARRIORS AND KINGS: The City of Copan & the Ancient Maya
- William L. Fash. Thames & Hudson, 1991.
After a century of research at the site, an international team of scholars is
solving the puzzle of Copan and the ancient Maya, helped by decipherment of
the inscriptions and new tomb finds. Bibliography; index. 192 pages.
- LOST CITIES OF THE MAYA
- Claude Baudez & Sydney Picasso. [Gallimard 1987]. English translation
Thames & Hudson, 1992.
A "retelling of the story of Mayan discovery... up-dated, with romantic conjecture giving way to scientific fact". Conquistadors & missionaries / Artists and adventurers / Age of the Scholars / Photographer-Explorers / Symbols in stone / From image to reality / Documents. Further reading; index. 176 pages.
- THE MAGNIFICENT MAYA
- Time-Life Books, 1993.
Cities buried in forests, desolate, without a name / Gods, blood, and kings /
Royalty and the seeds of doom / Yucatan, where the lucky days ran out.
Timeline. Bibliograhy; index. 168 pages.
- THE BRITISH AND THE MAYA
- Elizabeth Carmichael. British Museum, 1973.
Booklet compiled for exhibition at Museum of Mankind, indicating the
contribution of British travellers an scholars in the field of Mayan archaeology.
Material on Edward King, Juan Galindo, John Herbert Caddy, Frederick
Catherwood, Alfred Percival Maudslay, Adela Catherine Breton, Thomas Gann,
Thomas Athol Joyce, John Eric Sidney Thompson, Adrian Digby, Ian Graham,
and Norman Hammond. Bibliography. 56 pages.
- MAYA JADES
- Adrian Digby. British Museum, 1972.
Many famous pieces are casual finds without archaeological documentation,
and the numerous specimens found under controlled conditions cannot be
dated with any certainty or attributed to any particular locality, since they must
often have been treasured for many generations before being buried in graves
or votive caches. The major source for material discussed is the collection in
the Ethnography Department of the British Museum. Bibliographical note. 16
plates, 32 pages.
- MAYA HIEROGLYPHS WITHOUT TEARS
- J. Eric S. Thompson. British Museum, 1972.
The Maya system comprises approximately 350 main signs, 370 affixes, and
about 100 portrait glyphs, principally of deities.... It is remarkable that so many
glyphs remain undeciphered in view of the fact that the language the glyphs
express is known and is spoken to this day, allowing for time shifts. A partial
explanation is that most Maya ritual terms and religious imagery, unrecorded in
Maya-Spanish dictionaries, were lost with the disappearance of the Maya
hierarchy. Index. 84 pages.
- AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF MAYA HIEROGLYPHS
- Sylvanus Griswold Morley. Dover, 1975.
Unabridged republication of Bulletin 57 of the Bureau of American Ethnology,
Smithsonian Institution, 1915. A new introduction and bibliography prepared
specially for this edition by J.Eric S.Thompson. He notes that the title is a
misnomer; the contents cover only that part of the glyphs, important as it is,
pertaining to the Maya calendar. Index. 284 pages.
- BREAKING THE MAYA CODE
- Michael D. Coe. Thames & Hudson, 1992.
Yuri Valentinovich Knorosov published his proof that the Mayan writing system
was rational and phonetic in 1952.While isolated by the Soviet system, it gave
him, unwittingly, the freedom to think unencumbered; he knew how the
writing-systems of the Old World worked, and had not been brainwashed into
believing that the New World was different. Since ancient writing grows up to
meet ad hoc needs, the result is normally logosyllabic, a mixture of idea-signs
and phonetic elements in combinations. Ambiguity is still possible, but is
increasingly avoided. Egyptian hieroglyphs and Mesopotamian cuneiform
behave in this way. Purely phonetic scripts - syllabaries and alphabets - also
exist, but a count of the signs used in the Mayan system makes it unlikely that
the script was anything but a mixed one. This was the basis of Knorosov's
decipherment. Sir Eric Thompson, convinced that the script on the monuments
was decorative and mystical, taught this as dogma.... A second generation,
freed from presupposition, now develops the insights of Knorosov. Far from
being the simple, peace-loving star-gazers of Thompson's imagination, the
Maya emerge as a more complex culture: obsessed with warfare, dynastic
rivalries and ritual blood-letting, yet creators of supreme masterpieces in art
and architecture. Appendices: Proskouriakoff's Suggested Order of Discussion
and The Maya Syllabic Chart. Glossary; bibliography; index. 304 pages.
- THE ART OF THE MAYA SCRIBE
- Michael D. Coe & Justin Kerr. Thames & Hudson, 1997.
The artist-calligrapher enjoyed a high status in Classic Maya society. So important were the scribes that they lived in their own palaces and worshipped their own patron gods. Their achievements are displayed in stone, stucco, wood, shell, bone, murals and screenfold books, and painted or carved on magnificent ceramic vessels placed as offerings to the dead and to the gods. Michael Coe considers the origins and character of the script, explores the world of the scribes and 'keepers of the holy books', decoding their depiction in Mayan art, and examines the media in which they worked, their tools, and their techniques. These great masterpieces are vividly interpreted by the photographs of Justin Kerr.
The Maya Universe / The Maya Script / The World of the Maya Scribes / How the Maya wrote: tools & techniques / The Maya Books / The Splendour of Maya Calligraphy / End of the Calligraphic Tradition / Epilogue.
Before Epigraphy: Forerunners of the Great Decipherment; notes; bibliography;
List of illustrations; index. 240pp.
- MAYA SCRIPT: A Civilization and its Writing
- Maria Longhena. Abbeville Press, 2000.
Presents about 200 of the recently deciphered Mayan glyphs - some are ideograms, others are phonetic signs.
In search of a people / Life at court / Symbols / Religion / The calendar / Astronomy / Life and thought / Writing systems of the New World.
Further reading; Index. 180pp.
- MONUMENTS OF CIVILIZATION: MAYA
- Pierre Ivanoff. [1970] Cassell, 1973.
Covers the Classic Period sites - Tikal, Copan, Quirigua, Seibal, Dos Pozos,
Yaxchilan, Palenque, Bonampak - and post-Classic sites - Chichen-Itza,
Mayapan, Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, Xlapak, Labna, Tulum and Dzibilchaltun.
Appendices: The Monuments Through The Ages, Chronological Chart,
Glossary, index. 191 pages.
- A FOREST OF KINGS: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya
- Linda Schele & David Freidel. William Morrow & Co Inc, 1990.
With the decipherment of their writing system, the Maya joined the world's
great pristine civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and China,
on the stage of world history. A picture emerges, of not only a civilsation, but
of a world view and the individuals that cherished that view. All great events in
the lives of rulers were recorded on public monuments; wives and courtiers
sought a place in history through commissioning monuments of their own.
Kings and nobles marked objects of all types with their names, and artists and
sculptors signed their work so that future generations could honour them. The
relics speak to us of the personal histories of the people who made them. This
new American history resounds with the names of heroes, kings, queens,
princes, warriors, priests, artists, and scribes and the deeds and
accomplishments of their lives. Glossary of gods and icons; index. 541 pages.
- THE LOST CHRONICLES OF THE MAYA KINGS
- David Drew. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1999.
Recently, major advances in decipherment have begun to shed a whole new light on the Maya world and those who ruled it. This is "an interim summary for a general audience".
Notes; bibliography; index. 450 pp.
- CHRONICLE OF THE MAYA KINGS AND QUEENS: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya
- Simon Martin & Nikolai Grube. Thames & Hudson, 2000.
Discovering the Maya past / History; writing & calendars; Royal culture; Classic Politics; Comparative Timelines /Tikal / Dos Pilas / Naranjo / Caracol / Calakmul / Yaxchilan / Piedras Negras / Palenque / Tonina / Copan / Quirigua. Epilogue: Fall of the Divine Kings; Notes & Bibliography; Index. 240 pp.
- THE CONQUEST OF THE LAST MAYA KINGDOM
- Grant D. Jones. Stanford UP, US, 1998.
In 1521Cortes stood victor in the ruins of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec
Empire, less than two years after landing in Veracruz. A decade later Pizarro set
off on his third attempt to penetrate the Inca Empire in Peru; he climbed into
the Andes in 1532, and in less than two months had seized both Atahualpa and
his imperium. The Maya were a different case altogether - when the troops of
Martin de Ursua finally stormed the Itza capital of Nojpeten in 1697, the
struggle between invaders and invaded had lasted more than 150 years... The
Aztec and Inca empires were centralised states; both Cortes and Pizarro carried
out coups d'état, seizing the ruler and with him the levers of power. The Maya were always politically fragmented: from the emergence of Preclassic Maya
civilisation in the first millennium BC there were competing kingdoms, a
mosaic of fractious statelets, each as happy to fight with the newcomers as with
their neighbours.
The Itza World / Road to the Itzas / The Peace Seekers / Prelude to Conquest / Victims & Survivors of Conquest / Missions, Rebellion, and Survival.
Notes; Glossary; References cited; Index. 539 pp.
- MAYA COSMOS: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path
- David Friedel, Linda Schele & Joy Parker. William Morrow, 1993.
The ancient Maya were sophisticated astronomers and astrologers, with a
mathematically intricate system of time and remarkably accurate and detailed
calendars. The authors demonstrate how this system was linked to their
religion: hieroglyphs and carvings are shown to be representations of
constellations and religious myths associated with them. And these myths are
still very much alive in present-day Mexico and Guatemala. The way that
Mayan farmers arrange their fields, for example, is directly related to the
ancient creation myth. The Maya cosmos was peopled with exotic creatures of
all sorts , and the objects and places in their physical world acquired
dangerous power as they interacted with the supernatural. Order in their
cosmos was not accidental or distant from human affairs. The continued well-being of the universe required the active participation of the human
community through ritual. Glossary of Gods and Icons; References; index. 542
pages.
- THE SHAMAN'S SECRET: The Lost Resurrection Teachings of the Ancient Maya
- Douglas Gillette. Bantam Books, 1997.
Through ritual, sacrifice, and altered states of consciousness, the Maya
developed a remarkable resurrection technology - precise encoded instructions
for preserving the essence of the human spirit after death. Rediscovering a lost
world / A terrible beauty / A Living Cosmos / Blood and Ecstasy / Creations of
the Lightning Serpent / God; the Soul;The Shaman's Secret; Death / Trials of
Xibalba / Ballgame and human scrifice / Resurrection. Time Line for the Maya
area; Family Tree of the Maya Gods; Glossary; Select Bibliography; Index. 278
pp.
- A STUDY OF MAYA ART: Its Subject Matter & Historical Development
- Herbert J. Spinden. Dover, 1975.
Unabridged republication of Vol. VI, Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of
American Archaeology & Ethnology, 1913. A new introduction by J. Eric S.
Thompson reviews the life and work of Spinden (1879-1967).
Spinden offers the first cartography of the range of Maya art, the first understanding of its subject matter, and the first appreciation of the alien aesthetics that underlie its manifestations. He considers the basic religious and philosophical ideas of Mayan art, and then town planning, structural architecture, carved altars, stelae, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, jewelry, shell-work, stone carving, and even the few surviving Maya manuscripts.
Table of Nomenclature; bibliography; index. 285 pages.
- THE ART OF THE MAYA
- Ferdinand Anton. [1968] Translated Mary Whittall 1970. Reprinted Thames &
Hudson, 1978.
A photographic study of the range of Maya art; 299 plates, with notes,
drawings, rubbings, plans and maps. Text outlines mythical origins, describes
the formative culture, the move into a classic culture from the second century
AD. (Mentions mistake in calendar inscription on stela E at Quiriguà--p.47).
The transition from Classic to Postclassic, from priestly power to military.
Bibliography; index.344 pages.
- THE ART OF THE MAYA
- Henri Stierlin. Evergreen, 1981.
A photographic essay on the Maya: the sites, surroundings, monuments,
museum pieces and collections. Stierlin attempts to establish a connection
between the Maya and their forerunners, the Olmecs. Bibliography; List of
plates; List of figures, maps and plans; index. 216 pages.
- THE MAYA: Palaces and Pyramids of the Rainforest
- Henri Stierlin. Benedikt Taschen, 1997.
New research in deciphering Mayan hieroglyphics is used as the key to unlock the mystery of Mayan architecture: computer-aided reconstructions, plans, and chronological tables place architectural developments within the context of historical events.
The Maya enter History / Architectural language of the Maya / Tikal - a jungle metropolis / Golden Age of Palenque / A Neglected Chapter - Rio Bec & Chenes Styles / Uxmal - the Puuc style in Yucatan / Diversity of the Yucatec Cities / Chichén-Itzá - Capital of the Toltec-Maya / Decline and Fall.
Chronological Table; Glossary; Bibliography; Index. 237 pages.
- FROM THE MOUTH OF THE DARK CAVE: Commemorative Sculpture of the late Classic Maya
- Karen Bassie-Sweet. University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
The southern lowlands of the Maya region are honeycombed with caves
formed by the erosive action of underground rivers. With their dramatic
dripwater formations, winding tunnels, and huge caverns, these caves played a
major role in the ideology and world view of the Classic Maya. Considered to
be the home of ancestors and of deities associated with the sun, moon, rain,
wind, and corn, caves were a portal between the tangible human world and
the invisible world of the gods, at which the Maya performed their most sacred
rituals. Text & Image: their relationship / The Cave / The Cave Passage / Caves
associated with the Palenque Triad / The Maya World View / Pre-accession
Themes / Epilogue. Appendix: The Genealogy of the Palenque Rulers.
References; Index. 287 pp.
THE AZTECS
- THE WORLD OF THE AZTECS
- William H. Prescott. Minerva, 1974.
An evocation of the Aztecs and their Empire / Aztec nobility; Judicial system;
Laws and revenues; Military institutions /Mythology: the sacerdotal order;
Temples; Human sacrifice / Hieroglyphics / Agriculture; mechanical arts;
merchants; domestic manners / Tezucans: their Golden age; accomplished
princesses; decline of the monarchy. Appendix: Origin of the Mexican
civilization - analogies with the Old World. Index. 156 pages.
- FEATHERED SERPENT AND SMOKING MIRROR: Gods and Fate in Ancient Mexico
- Cottie Burland & Werner Forman. Orbis 1975
A dark fatalism pervades the history of ancient Mexico. Over thousands of
years a succession of highly developed cultures emerged, their cities
dominated by massive pyramids dedicated to blood-thirsty gods. Yet for all
their power and sophistication, the final Mexican empire was destroyed by a
mere handful of gold-seeking Spanish invaders. Mexican fatalism found its
deepest expression in the fundamental duality of two of the greatest Aztec
gods: Feathered Serpent, representing conscious thought and intelligence, and
Smoking Mirror, symbolizing the sinister stirrings of the unconscious mind. The
militaristic Aztecs, under the patronage of Smoking Mirror, established the
greatest of all ancient Mexican empires, but their astrologer-priests predicted
that Feathered Serpent would one day return to take his vengeance. On the
date predicted for the return of the god, Cortes and his conquistadors landed on
the eastern coasts of their empire. Glossary; Chronology; Bibliography; Index.
128 pages.
- CORTES AND THE AZTEC CONQUEST
- Irwin R. Blacker. [1965] British edition, Cassell Caravel, 1966.
In three years, 1519 to 1522, Cortes and a few hundred Spanish soldiers
overcame a centuries-old empire that could put tens of thousands of warriors
into the field. Even after his god-like reputation had been shattered, and his
horses and cannon were no longer regarded as supernatural, his ruthless daring
took him on to victory.Yet in the end his prize was not the gold that he had
sought, but the destruction of an entire civilization.Illustrated with paintings,
drawings and artifacts of the period. Index. 153 pages.
- AZTECS OF MEXICO: origin, rise, and fall of the Aztec Nation
- George C. Vaillant / revised by Suzannah B. Vaillant. [1944/1962]
Penguin/BCA, 1975.
In the eleventh century AD the Aztecs arrived in Mexico from the north. In less
than a hundred years they developed an extraordinary civilization. Dr Vaillant
discusses the basic beliefs of Aztec society in relation to government,
education and law, and takes us on a conducted tour of Tenochtitlan in the
heyday of its power. The thorough revision by his wife makes it the most
important account of a great civilization. Bibliography; index. 363 pages.
- THE AZTECS: Rise and Fall of an Empire
- Serge Gruzinski. Translated Paul G. Bahn. Gallimard 1987. Thames & Hudson, 1992.
A refined society, monumental architecture, powerful sculpture, magnificently
illustrated codices, fine goldwork, and brilliant feathered costumes. Plus mass
human sacrifice and bloodthirsty warriors. How did these two contradictory
aspects co-exist in one people? Documentation; chronology; list of illustrations;
index. 192 pages.
- THE AZTECS
- Michael E. Smith. Blackwell, 1996.
Aztecs of Mesoamerica / Rise of Aztec Civilisation / People on the Landscape /
Artisans and their wares /Merchants, markets, and money / Family and social
class / City-State & Empire / Cities & urban planning / Creation, sacrifice and
the Gods / Science and Art / Final glory and destruction / The Aztec legacy
today.
Glossary of Nahuatl terms; Index. 360 pp.
- DAILY LIFE OF THE AZTECS on the eve of the Spanish Conquest
- Jacques Soustelle. [1955]. Penguin, 1972.
Soustelle describes the elaborate and sophisticated way of life that disappeared
for ever with the Spanish conquest of Mexico: the art, architecture, religious
observance, knowledge of astronomy, and system of government. Index. 302 pp.
- AZTECS: Reign of Blood & Splendor
- Time-Life Books, 1992.
The fall of the City "Precious as Jade" / People in search of a past / The terrible
sustenance of the Gods / The gentler side of Aztec life. Timeline. Bibliography;
index. 168 pages.
- THE GREAT TEMPLE OF THE AZTECS: Treasures of Tenochtitlan
- Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. [1988] Thames & Hudson, pbk, 1994.
After Cortes' conquest in 1521, the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was levelled and its Great Temple demolished. Soon even the location of the old cult centre was lost - until 1978, when tunneling for Mexico City's subway system unearthed clues that led to the rediscovery of the Great Temple and the most spectacular excavations ever conducted in Mexico.
The City of Mexico past and present / Aztecs in history / Archaeology of the Great Temple / Treasures from the Great Temple / Aztec myth & the Great Temple / Tenochtitlan and its inhabitants / The destruction of Tenochtitlan.
Chronological table; Glossary; Bibliography; Index. 192 pp.
- THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO
- Hugh Thomas. Hutchinson, 1993.
The encounter between two cultures and two extraordinary men, Cortes and
Montezuma, is one of the important events in history. This is a scholarly
account drawn from new material from the archives of Seville, but information
from the Aztec side is inevitably limited; the book as a whole does not change
the conventional interpretation of what happened, except to bring out the
importance of the anti-Aztec alliances which Cortes put together. Appendices
on the population of old Mexico, summary of Montezuma's tribute, Mexican
calendars, Spanish money c.1520, and Cortes' ladies. Genealogies;
Unpublished documents; Sources; index. 812 pages.
- THE AZTECS
- Nigel Davies. [1973 - originally published by Macmillan] New edition: The
Folio Society, 2000
Emphasis is on the last period before the Conquest: we are separated from the time of the Aztecs by fewer centuries than those which divide the latter from some of the greatest vestiges of the Mexican past.
Chronology of Principal Events - 1111 to 1521AD / The Long Migration / Early Rulers / The Obsidian Serpent / Moctezuma I - The Empire takes shape / A New Era / Lion of Anahuac / A Man in his Prime / Setting Sun / Aztec Aftermath. A tentative genealogy of the Royal Dynasty of Tenochtitlan / The principal deities of the Mexican Pantheon. Notes; Bibliography; Index. 374 pp.
- THE AZTECS: Rise and Fall of an Empire
- Serge Gruzinski. [Gallimard 1987] English translation, Thames & Hudson,
1992.
- Tula or the Mirage of Civilization / The Empire Builders / The Aztecs conquer the world / Clash of two worlds / From resistance to collaboration / The aftermath of the Conquest / Documents, Chronology; Index. 192pp.
- THIS TREE GROWS OUT OF HELL: Mesoamerica and the Search for the Magical Body
- Ptolemy Tomkins. HarperCollins, 1990
Tomkins traces the roots of the Mesoamerican universe in the shamanic
practices of America's early inhabitants. The World Tree or Wacah Chan is the
central axis of the world; trees are living organisms of three interacting parts -
roots, trunk and branches - needed for the whole to flourish. Similarly, the
tripartite world of over-, middle- and Otherworld comprised the universe of the
ancient Mesoamerican, and demanded similar continuous fruitful interaction.
The pantheons of each culture were enormous and subject to variation at each
particular site. The better-known gods have, in addition, a maddening tendency
to shift constantly into one another, and acquire new multisyllabic names.
Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed or Feathered Serpent of the Aztecs, could be
variously envisioned as one of several celestial dragons, animalistic god-avatars, or dimly historical human personages, all of these manifestations
lacking any immediately discernable similarities in terms of character or
function. And this describes the problems of interpretation just within the
boundaries of Aztec culture - a boundary within which Quetzalcoatl certainly
did not remain. Follow the permutations of this god-complex back into the
hazy realms of his birth and the difficulty of arriving at a clear conception of
just this one, comparatively well-documented god, becomes apparent.
Bibliography; index. 190 pages.
THE INCAS & ANDES CIVILISATIONS
- THE GOLD OF EL DORADO: The Quest for the Golden Man
- Victor Wolfgang von Hagen. [1974]. Paladin, 1978.
The adventurers exploring the New World were fascinated by the whispers of
treasure beyond belief somewhere in the mountains of Columbia. There, said
the tales, lived a people whose chief, once a year, as part of a religious ritual,
covered himself with gold dust - El Dorado, the Golden Man. The collective
madness of the search for the Golden Man lasted for a full century.
Bibliography; index. 346 pages.
- THE SEARCH FOR EL DORADO
- Time-Life Books, 1994.
The Golden Enchantment of South America / The Chavin: builders of Giant
Wonders; The Moche: a people raised from the grave; The Paracas and Nazca
Cultures: glowing achievements in a desert. Timeline. Bibliography; index. 168
pages.
- INCAS: Lords of Gold and Glory
- Time-Life Books, 1992.
A violent clash of alien cultures / An empire built by a man called Earthshaker /
Borrowers of Greatness / Lives of hard work and joyous play. Timeline.
Bibliography; index. 168 pages.
- REALM OF THE INCAS
- Victor Wolfgang von Hagen. [1957]. NEL/Mentor, 1963.
Von Hagen traces the growth of a mighty nation, from a primitive settlement in
an Andean valley to a comples welfare state linking more than two million
people.Unaided by the art of writing, , without knowledge of the wheel, the
Incas united their subjects with a common language, with royal roads, huge
agricultural projects, imposing temples. Bibliography; index. 223 pages.
- THE WORLD OF THE INCAS: A Socialistic State of the Past
- Otfrid von Hanstein. Translated Anna Barwell. George Allen & Unwin, 1924.
The beginnings of the Inca kingdom: Manco Capac and his sister Oello, chosen
as messengers by the Supreme Creator, leave Tiahuanaco to found the realm of
the Four Suns--Tahuantinsuyu. Stretching down the Andean backbone, it was
the biggest native state to arise in the western hemisphere, yet fell easily to the
invading Conquistadors--weakened by internal dissension and the spread of
smallpox brought from the Old World. No index. 189 pages.
- THE INCAS AND THEIR ANCESTORS: The archaeology of Peru
- Michael E. Moseley. Thames & Hudson, 1992.
The glittering culture of the Inca obscured the rich and diverse civilizations that
preceded it: Chavin, Moche, Nazca, Tiwanaku, Huari and Chimu. More
intensive research into this heritage has been carried out during the last
generation than previously. Moseley presents a major synthesis of these
important new findings. Andean prehistory can be understood only in terms of
human adaptations to extraordinary environmental extremes. Moche and
Chimu civilizations grew up along the narrow coastal desert, susceptible to
periodic cataclysmic flooding or drought. Tiwanaku and Huari flourished in the
harsh highlands. Not until the 15th century were these maritime and mountain
worlds united by the Incas in a single empire. And yet there was a constant
interchange, for thousands of years, between coast and uplands, fostering the
rapid dissemination of the famous Chavin art style, and the widespread
adoption of mummification of the dead. Bibliography; index.272 pages.
- THE INCAS
- Nigel Davies. [1995 UP of Colorado, with first 5 chapters from 1997 Ancient Kingdoms of Peru, Penguin] New edition, Folio Society, 2000.
Ancient pre-Inca kingdoms: Chavin, Moche, Nazca, Tiahuanaco and Huari, Chimu / The first of the Incas / Era of Pachacutec / Last conquerors / Inca State / The Empire and its infrastructure / The Imperial System / Decline and Fall.
Appendix: Résumé of campaigns of Tupac Inca and Huayna Capac as related by Sarmiento de Gamboa and Cabello de Balboa. Bibliography; Index. 389pp.
- PERU BEFORE PIZARRO
- George Bankes. Phaidon, 1977.
Spanish expeditions under Pizarro and his fellow conquistadors were the first to
bring back booty of an advanced civilization in Peru. Bankes puts together an
intricate picture of life in ancient Peru, and of the singularities of terrain and
climate that shaped it. Complex irrigation schemes and terracing indicate a
long tradition of intensive agriculture. Its success is evident from the grandeur
of the cities it supported - among them such architectural legends as Machu
Picchu, Chan Chan and the Inca capital of Cuzco itself. Index. 208 pages.
- MACHU PICCHU
- John Hemming. Newsweek, 1981.
Machu Picchu is the Lost City of the Incas, discovered in 1911 by the explorer
Hiram Bingham. At first identified as Vilcabamba (which was located in the
1960s even deeper within the Amazonian rain forest) this is one of the finest
aggregation of Inca buildings in all of Peru. Chronology of the Conquest; Guide
to Machu Picchu; Bibliography; index. 172 pages.
- KINGDOM OF THE SUN GOD: A History of the Andes and their People
- Ian Cameron. Random Century/Guild, 1990.
Describes how the mountains were formed, how hunter-gatherers arrived from
North America and the sowing of maize led to the development of ayllus,
village communes which have been a key factor in Andean life. The early
civilizations were conquered by the Incas, who created a practical welfare
state that was almost half the size of Europe yet fell before a rabble of 160
Spanish adventurers. In the early 19th century revolutionary wars finally freed
the people of the Andes from Spanish suzerainty. Index. 224 pages.
- CHAVIN AND THE ORIGINS OF ANDEAN CIVILIZATION
- Richard L. Burger. [1992] Thames & Hudson , pbk, 1995.
Peruvian chronology / The setting and changing environment / The Late Preceramic and beginnings of Peruvian civilisation / Initial Period Societies: Coastal, in the Highlands, and Montane Forest / The early ceremonial centre, and proto-urban centre of Chavin de Huántar / Florescence & collapse of Chavin civilization / Epilogue. Chronological chart; Radiocarbon dates; Bibliography; Index. 248 pp.
- THE CITIES OF THE ANCIENT ANDES
- Adriana von Hagen & Craig Morris. Thames & Hudson, 1998.
The Andean People and their Land / Cities for the Andes / Early Monumental Architecture in the Andes / Highland Center of Chavin de Huàntar / The First Cities / Imperial Cities: Wari & Tiwanaku /Cities of the Desert / City and countryside in the Inka Empire / Reconstructing life in the ancient cities.
Gazatteer; Further reading; Index. 240 pp.
- ART OF EMPIRE: The Inca of Peru
- Julie Jones. The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1964.
The art of Andean South America is one of the glories of the indigenous
civilizations of this hemisphere. Developing styles and character so uniquely
and richly its own, it presents an extremely complex picture. Centuries of
painstaking development, years of interaction and influence, slowly evolved
techniques, all culminate in the Inca era, an era of upheaval and change. The
Inca empire ended more abruptly than it began, with the capture and death of
Atahuallpa. Once Inca control was destroyed, ever-present local styles re-emerged. The frantic search for gold, an over-riding concern, brought matters
to a quick conclusion. 56 pages.
- PYRAMIDS OF TUCUME: The Quest for Peru's Forgotten City
- Thor Heyerdahl, Daniel H. Sandweiss & Alfredo Narvaez. Jarrold, 1995.
The city of Tucume was first constructed nearly nine centuries ago by the
people of the Lambayeque culture. In Inca times the central height of the city,
a natural mountain called La Raya, was built over to become the largest semi-
artificial pyramid in the world. Bibliography; index. 240 pages.
- BUILT BEFORE THE FLOOD: The Problem of the Tiahuanaco Ruins
- H.S. Bellamy. Faber & Faber, 1943.
The Tiahuanaco Problem has been approached from practically one angle only
- that of archaeology - and even this only in a very desultory manner. The
various findings have served only to deepen the mystery which enshrouds the
enigmatic remains of culture in the Bolivian Altiplano. An expedition, financed
largely from German funds, was thwarted by the outbreak of war; Bellamy
outlines the objects of such an expedition in the future. In the book, he raises
the problem of the 'Inter-Andean Sea of the highest Strandline', and mentions
Hoerbiger's theory of a 'girdle-tide' created by a predecessor of the Moon, a
satellite that eventually broke up owing to gravitational stresses. There are
many unmistakable evidences that Tiahuanaco was a harbour-city, but the
shore of Lake Titicaca is now over 12 miles away. He complains that
Tiahuanaco is probably the most mangled site known to archaeology, with
remains pilfered by speculating builders from the time of the conquistadors.
Bibliography; index. 144 pages.
- PATHWAYS TO THE GODS: The Mystery of the Andes Lines
- Tony Morrison. Incorporating the work of Gerald S. Hawkins.
Michael Russell/BCA, 1979.
Nasca has been the subject of considerable speculation. Morrison calls upon
expert opinion in a variety of disciplines: Dr Gerald S. Hawkins and his
computer-backed conclusions, the theories of the German mathematician
Maria Reich, after half a lifetime studying the Nasca phenomenon.
Bibliography; index. 208 pages.
- LINES TO THE MOUNTAIN GODS: Nazca and the Mysteries of Peru
- Evan Hadingham. Harrap, 1987.
More than 2000 years ago the people of Nazca began drawing giant designs on
the desert floor; animals and birds, complex geometric designs, and lines that
run dead straight for mile after mile. Why draw them on so vast a scale that
they are scarcely visible from the flat desert floor, and how did they create
them without modern surveying and geometry?
Hadingham investigates the new theories and sets the Nazca debate against
the latest research on ancient Peruvians and their achievements.
Bibliography; index. 307 pages.
- NASCA: Eighth Wonder of the World?
- Anthony F. Aveni. British Museum Press, 2000.
A mystery on the desert / Nasca in perspective / Nasca before Columbus / Rediscovering the Pampa / Sacred landscape: a Nasca for the New Millennium / Ley lines to labyrinths: Remaking the Earth beyond Nasca. Index. 257 pp.
- THE LOST TOMB OF VIRACOCHA: Unlocking the secrets of the Peruvian Pyramids
- Maurice Cotterell. Headline, 2001.
Inca accounts speak of legendary white gods who walked the lands of South America performing miracles. Cotterell claims to unlock the secrets of Tiahuanaco, and discovers the treasure-filled tombs of Viracocha Pachacamac and Viracocha in the long-lost pyramids of Peru.
The Mochica / The Incas / The Tiahuanacos / The Sun-Kings / Mysterious Lines of Nazca / The Amazing Lid of Palenque Sub-Transformer / Reincarnation.
Appendices: How the Sun determines personality / Reason for Asynchronous Menstruation / The Sun / Reincarnation. Bibliography; Index. 214 pp.
- EXPLORATION FAWCETT
- P.H. Fawcett. Hutchinson, 1953.
Arranged from his manuscripts, letters, log-books and records by Brian Fawcett.
Decorations by Brian Fawcett. A border delimitation assignment on behalf of the Bolivian government in 1906 took him to Lake Titicaca and the Tiahuanaco ruins. Thereafter he led several hazardous expeditions in the Mato Grosso area in search of traces of ancient civilizations. Disappeared in 1925 near the Xingu river. Index/glossary. Endpapers show expedition routes. 312 pages.
NORTH AMERICA
- 500 NATIONS: an illustrated history of North American Indians.
- Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. [1994] British edition, Hutchinson/Pimlico, 1995.
American history from the Native American point of view. Almost every
community in Canada, US and Mexico was once an Indian community, and
those communities before the arrival of the whites were part of hundreds of
unique Indian nations that blanketed the entire continent. During the first
millennium AD, Mayan rulers like Pacal at Palenque built powerful city-states
in southern Mesoamerica, while other Indian nations created civilisations of
their own in the highlands and valleys of Central Mexico and along the coasts
of the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Coast. By about 500AD Teotihuacán had
developed into America's first large urban area and the seat of a far-reaching
military and economic area; its metropolitan population of almost 150,000
dwarfed that of Rome and all other European cities of the time. The loss of a
homeland began when Columbus disembarked among the Arawaks, and came
to a climax when the last group of Sioux moved on to a reservation following
the battle of Wounded Knee in 1890. Index. 470 pages.
- THE NATIVE TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA: A Concise Encyclopedia.
- Michael Johnson. Windrow & Greene Ltd, 1993.
Essential information on the identity, kinships, locations and populations (both
in aboriginal times and present day), and cultural characteristics of some 400
separately identifiable peoples, both extinct and surviving. Illustrated with
regional maps, a selection of rare early photographs, and a portfolio of colour
plates by Richard Hook. Glossary, bibliography; index. 210 pages.
- THE AMERICAN INDIAN WARS
- John Tebbel & Keith Jennison. [1960] Reprinted, in pbk, Phoenix Press, 2001.
Before the white man came, the vast region that is now the United States was
inhabited by one million Indians, organized into six hundred distinct societies.
The first meetings between Indians and white men in the South-East and along
the Atlantic coast were not important historically in themselves, but kindled
flames that blazed savagely for four centuries. The Indian nations, living in
peace and prosperity for the most part, in spite of an intermittent but limited
intertribal warfare, learned that the white invaders could not be trusted, and
their object was not the peaceful intercourse of trade which the Indians offered
them, but naked conquest. After four centuries of nearly continuous warfare the
Indians were reduced numerically to less than four hundred thousand, their
lands gone, and their homes a series of reservations in, for the most part, the
western United States. This is the dramatic account of their wars of survival
from 1500 -1900.
Bibliographical notes; index. 312 pages.
- NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN WARS
- Richard H. Dillon. [1983] Reprinted, Magna Books, 1994.
As white colonists pushed eastern tribes farther back into the western tribes'
lands, competition for hunting grounds bred larger wars between entire nations
of Indians. Perhaps no other indigenous peoples have fought harder to preserve
their ways of life as did the eastern Indians, and later tribes of the Plains and
Prairies. Though ultimately defeated by superior weapons and the greater
numbers of their enemies, the bravery and valour of their greatest warriors were
impressed indelibly upon the myths of their conquerors. Indian population
tables; chronology; index. 256 pages.
- NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: Myths and Legends
- Lewis Spence. Facsimile of the 1914 edition. Studio Editions, 1993.
Divisions, customs, and history of the Red Man; the mythologies of the North
American Indians; myths and legends of the Algonquian, Iroquois, Sioux,
Pawnees, Northern and Northwestern Indians. Bibliography; glossary & index.
393 pages.
- MOUND BUILDERS & CLIFF DWELLERS
- Time-Life Books, 1992.
The Adena and the Hopewell: A monumental Heritage / Temple Mound
Builders: the High and the Mighty / The Southwest: Thriving in a pitiless
domain / The Anasazi: Masters of the canyons and cliffs. Timeline.
Bibliography; index. 168 pages.
|