ANT 3168 - Maya Archaeology: Print Resources

Archaeology is one of the most interdisciplinary of all academic subjects; it draws on the natural and physical sciences and is closely related to fields in the social sciences and humanities such as history and anthropology. This volume brings together the myriad strands and the great temporal and spatial breadth of the field into a single thematically organized volume. The volume is organized into three major sections: origins, aims and methods of archaeology; problems and approaches to archaeology; and the development of human society and archaeology. Each section is introduced by the editors and includes essays which cover all of the major issues and concerns within the field.

Presenting the most up-to-date coverage on our knowledge of this society, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures is the first comprehensive and comparative reference source to chronicle Pre-Hispanic, Colonial, and modern Mesoamerica. Written for a wide audience, it is an invaluable reference for interested lay persons, students, teachers, and scholars in such fields as art, archaeology, religious studies, anthropology, Latin American culture, and the history of the region. Organized alphabetically, the articles range from 500-word biographies to 7,000-word entries on geography and history to the legacy of the arts, writings, architecture, and religious rituals. An extensive network of cross-references, blind entries, and annotated bibliographies guide the reader to related entries within the Encyclopedia and provide the groundwork for further research.

""Mesoamerica" is a term used to define a culture area encompassing present-day Mexico and Central America. Characterized by similarities in agricultural development, urbanization and ceremonial practice, great civilizations rose in the region well before the arrival of the Europeans in the "New World." At once accessible - the Maya, for example, were fully literate and left behind a complete written record of their unique society - and mysterious - Maya civilization disappeared cataclysmically and inexplicably - the regions and cultures of Mesoamerica are endlessly fascinating." "Encyclopedia of Ancient Mesoamerica is the first A-to-Z guide to the people, places and events of the region, from the emergence of early cultures there at the end of the last ice age, c. 11,000 B.C., to the demise of the Aztec following the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, this survey includes the Olmec (progenitors of all subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations), the Zapotec (possibly the first writers of the New World) and the Teotihuacans (creators of the grandest of all Mesoamerican city-states), among others." "The encyclopedia contains both longer essays on topics such as art and architecture, codices, social life and festivals, gods and goddesses, the Mesoamerican ball game, the Maya calendar, funerary rites, the military, views of the underworld, and pyramids, as well as shorter entries on rulers of note, and such important sites as La Venta, home of one of the oldest pyramids and burial grounds; Teotihuacan, site of the Pyramid of the Sun and the Avenue of the Dead; and Uxmal, the architectural jewel of the Yucatan peninsula. In addition, the book includes a brief introduction, a general chronology and timelines of individual empires, a glossary of Mesoamerican terms and deities, and more than 100 black-and-white line drawings. Ideal for the student or general reader, Encyclopedia of Ancient Mesoamerica is a vivid portrait of the now-faded civilizations of Central America."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This is the first comprehensive, one-volume encyclopedia in English devoted to pre-Columbian archaeology of the Mesoamerican culture area. In more than 500 articles by the major experts in the field, this work brings the most recent scholarship to an examination of regional environments and their cultural evolution. Entries range from the familiar and world-renowned archaeological discoveries of Maya and Aztec sites to more recent excavations such as the Sayil archaeological zone in the Yucatan and Teopantecuanitlan in Guerrero. A rich historical and cultural resource on one of the world's six cradles of civilization, this reference is ideal for students, scholars, and prospective travellers.