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Ancient Mexico & Central America archaeology and culture history

This essential textbook brings to life the cultures of Mexico and Central America in the centuries leading up to and including the Spanish conquest. The first edition won the Society for American Archaeology book award in 2005, and it has become a mainstay in courses throughout the United States and...

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Main Author: Evans, Susan Toby, 1945-
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: London : Thames & Hudson, 2013.
Edition:3rd ed.
Subjects:
Indians of Mexico > History.
Indians of Central America > History.
Mexico > Civilization.
Mexico > Antiquities.
Central America > Civilization.
Central America > Antiquities.
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Table of Contents:
  • Machine generated contents note: pt. 1 MESOAMERICA, MIDDLE AMERICA, AND ITS PEOPLES
  • ch. 1 Ancient Mesoamerica, the Civilization and Its Antecedents
  • Ancient Mexico and Central America in Geographical, Cultural, and Global Context
  • Mesoamerica and Middle America: Culture and Geography
  • How Societal Complexity Develops
  • Special Feature Cultural Evolution and Types of Societies
  • Culture History and Chronology
  • Middle American and Mesoamerican Culture History
  • Middle America: Hunter-Foragers of the Paleoindian and Archaic Periods
  • Mesoamerica: Villagers and Urbanites of the Formative, Classic, and Postclassic Periods
  • Special Feature Religion and Creation
  • New Spain: The Colonial Period
  • Mexico and Central America: The Republican Period and the Rise of Modern Archaeology
  • ch. 2 Ecology and Culture: Mesoamerican Beginnings
  • Mesoamerica's Major Geophysical and Biotic Features
  • Native Vegetation: Neotropical and Nearctic Environments, Dry Lands and Wetlands
  • The Big Divide: West of the Isthmus vs. Isthmus and East
  • Climate and Crops
  • This Cradle, Compared with Other Cradles
  • Mesoamericans and Cultural Ecology
  • Enculturing the Ecological Context
  • Ideology: What We Say We Do
  • Subsistence: What We Really Do
  • Sedentism and Its Consequences
  • Action and Agency: The Individual's Role
  • Cultural Evolution and What it is Not
  • Cultural Regions
  • West of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
  • The Isthmus of Tehuantepec and East
  • Mesoamerica's First Inhabitants: Hunter-Foragers, to 8000 BC
  • Asian Origins
  • Paleoindian Periods
  • Special Feature Shamanism
  • Big-Game Hunters
  • Special Feature Best Friends
  • Global Warming, Varied Toolkits, and Mixed Strategies: The End of the Paleoindian Period and Beginning of the Archaic Period
  • ch. 3 Archaic Foragers, Collectors, and Farmers (8000-2000 BC)
  • Archaic Transformations: Changes Toward Domestication of Plants, and Settled Life
  • Domestication of Plants and Sedentism, in the Dry Lands West of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
  • Food, Sex, Demography, and Settled Life: The Laws We Live By
  • Early Archaic Band Society: Social Organization, Economic Organization, Political Control, Ideology
  • Seasonality and Scheduling
  • Early Archaic Foragers at Guila Naquitz Cave, Valley of Oaxaca
  • Special Feature Maguey
  • From Early Archaic to Middle Archaic and Beyond
  • The Tehuacan Valley
  • Regionalization of Culture: "Traditions" of the Early Archaic Period
  • Special Feature Tehuacan Valley Sequence
  • The Middle Archaic, c. 5500-3500 BC, and Late Archaic, C. 3500-2000 BC
  • Maize Domestication
  • Other Middle Archaic Evidence, West of the Isthmus
  • Special Feature Figurines
  • A Note on the Term "Preceramic"
  • Middle and Late Archaic: Isthmus and East
  • Guerrero: Pacific Coast, Late Archaic and Early Formative
  • 2000 BC: the Archaic Ends, and the Formative Period Begins
  • ch. 4 The Initial Formative (C. 2000-1200 BC)
  • Special Feature Mesoamerica: The Trait List
  • Cultural Trends of the Formative Period
  • Precursors to the Olmecs
  • Recognizing Social Inequality in the Archaeological Record
  • Smoke and Mirrors
  • Mesoamerica's "New Stone Age"
  • Special Feature Prismatic Blades
  • Isthmian Region
  • The Rise of the Chiefdom
  • Special Feature Yanomamo
  • Chief as Office: Achievement and Ascription
  • Engendered Political Evolution
  • Mokaya of Mazatan
  • The Mokaya in Decline
  • Elsewhere Along the Isthmus in the Initial Formative
  • Language as a Chronological Marker
  • Language as an Ethnic Marker
  • Highlands West of the Isthmus
  • Earliest Highland Ceramics
  • Special Feature Pottery Vessel Forms
  • Ancestor Cults and Oaxaca in Tierras Largas Phase
  • Elsewhere in the Highlands: Basin of Mexico, Morelos, Tehuacan Valley
  • West Mexico
  • Initial Formative: The Mesoamerican Culture Area
  • pt. 2 COMPLEX SOCIETIES OF THE FORMATIVE
  • ch. 5 The Olmecs: Early Formative (C. 1200-900/800 BC)
  • Early Formative and Initial Olmec
  • A Jade-Green World
  • Special Feature Jade
  • Things That Move Cultures
  • East and South of the Pacific Coastal Plain
  • Southern Gulf Lowlands
  • The Olmecs: First Florescence of Mature Mesoamerican Civilization
  • Early Olmecs and Their Neighbors
  • Subsistence in the Isthmus
  • Spiritually Charged Landscape
  • Special Feature What is Civilization?
  • Colossal Heads and Buried Drains: Monumental Display at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan
  • Other Nearby Olmec Sites: Potrero Nuevo and El Azuzul
  • El Manati
  • Special Feature Colossal Heads
  • Themes and Modes in Olmec Art
  • Shamans and Transformation
  • Highland Developments, West of the Isthmus
  • Settlement Patterns and Settlement Systems
  • Oaxaca: San Jose Phase (1150-850 BC)
  • Elsewhere in the Central Highlands: Puebla, Morelos, and the Basin of Mexico
  • Northern Arid Zone
  • West Mexico
  • Guerrero
  • Setting the Stage for the Middle Formative
  • ch. 6 The Olmecs: Middle Formative (C. 900-600 BC)
  • Developments in the Southwestern Highlands
  • Guerrero: Teopantecuanitlan and Cave Sites
  • Non-Portable Art from Guerrero
  • Special Feature Jaguars
  • Morelos: Chalcatzingo's Apogee
  • Basin of Mexico: Occupation at Zacatenco and Cuicuilco
  • Puebla: The Amalucan Irrigation System
  • Tlaxcala
  • Gulf Lowlands North, North-central, and South-central
  • Valley of Oaxaca and the Mixteca Region
  • Isthmus and East
  • The Pacific Coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and Adajacent Areas to the South
  • Olmec Influences
  • Intermediate Olmec and La Venta
  • Chiapas Interior Plateau and Chiapa de Corzo
  • Guatemala Highlands
  • Maya Culture
  • The Southern Maya Lowlands
  • The Northern Maya Lowlands
  • The Maya of the Motagua
  • Southeastern Mesoamerica
  • The Intermediate Area: Caves of Eastern Honduras
  • Transition to the Post-Olmec Era
  • ch. 7 Middle to Late Formative Cultures (C. 600/500-300 BC)
  • West of the Isthmus: Rise of Monte Alban
  • The Valley of Oaxaca: San Jose Mogote, Eclipsed by Monte Alban
  • Monte Alban
  • Special Feature Divinatory Almanac
  • The New Shape of Maize: The Tortilla
  • Monte Alban's Neighborhoods and Early Monuments
  • Urbanism and Settlement Models
  • Elsewhere in the Highlands and West Mexico
  • The Basin of Mexico
  • Special Feature Exchange and Marketplace Systems
  • West Mexico
  • Special Feature Central Place Models
  • Last Years of the Olmecs in the Isthmus and East
  • Terminal Olmec Period, 600-300 BC
  • The Southern Pacific Coast
  • Guatemala Highlands: Kaminaljuyu
  • Special Feature Chocolate
  • Chiapas Interior Plateau
  • Maya Lowlands, South and Central
  • Maya Lowlands, North
  • Trends to Watch
  • ch. 8 The Emergence of States in the Late Formative (300 BC-AD 1)
  • Social Stratification
  • Pottery Style Zones and Elite Long-distance Exchange
  • Proto-States in the Highlands West of the Isthmus
  • Basin of Mexico: Teotihuacan and Cuicuilco
  • Cuicuilco and the Old God of Fire
  • Teotihuacan and the Sanctity of Flowing Water
  • West Mexican Funerary Complexes: Shaft Tombs and Chupicuaro
  • Elsewhere in the Central Highlands
  • Special Feature Cosmetic Alterations
  • Cuicatlan Canada
  • The Mixteca
  • Monte Alban
  • Monte Negro
  • Isthmus and East
  • Gulf Lowlands, South-central and South
  • Chiapas Interior Plateau
  • Special Feature Calendrics
  • South Coast of the Isthmus, and Pacific Coastal Plain
  • Southeastern Mesoamerica: Chalchuapa and Its Trading Partners
  • Guatemala Highlands
  • Maya Lowlands
  • ch. 9 The Terminal Formative (AD 1-300)
  • Early Maya Centers
  • Maya Lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula
  • Terminal Formative Period Events in the Maya Lowlands
  • Rio Bec: Early Fortifications
  • Northern Maya Lowlands
  • Southeastern Mesoamerica
  • Guatemala Highlands
  • The Isthmus and Early Writing
  • West of the Isthmus
  • Guerrero
  • West Mexico: Shaft-Tomb Cultures and the Teuchitlan Tradition
  • West Mexican Architectural Models
  • The Teuchitlan Tradition
  • Northwestern Frontier and Northern Arid Zone
  • Central Highlands Surrounding the Basin of Mexico
  • The Northern Gulf Region
  • Teotihuacan, The Place Where Time Began
  • The Magic of Location: Place of the Gods
  • The Magic of Location: Place of the Food and Tools
  • pt. 3 CULTURES OF THE EARLY CLASSIC
  • ch.
  • 10 Teotihuacan and Its International Influence (AD 250/300-600)
  • What Happened in the Classic
  • Teotihuacan: Pyramids and Palaces
  • The Evolution of Teotihuacan's Plan
  • Teotihuacan Palaces and Rulership
  • The Apartment Compounds: Social Strata Within and Among the Residences
  • How the End Began
  • What Caused the Uprising?
  • Teotihuacan's Political Economy: Selling an Ideological Package
  • Teotihuacan Presence West of the Isthmus
  • Teotihuacan's Influence Elsewhere in the Central Highlands, to the North and West
  • Teotihuacan and the Bajio and Northwestern Frontier
  • West Mexico
  • Michoacan, Guerrero, Morelos
  • Mixteca, Oaxaca
  • Puebla and Tlaxcala
  • Gulf Lowlands
  • Teotihuacan's Important Partners South of the Isthmus
  • ch. 11 The Maya in the Early Classic (AD 250-600)
  • Maya Lowlands
  • The Peten Region and Maya Politics
  • Kings of Calendrics: Time and Early Classic Maya Rulers
  • Tikal as an Early Classic Maya Center
  • Special Feature Death of a Maya King
  • Special Feature The Great Tikal Earthwork
  • The Usumacinta Region
  • Calakmul and the Northern Maya Lowlands
  • Special Feature Maya Writing
  • Maya of the Motagua: Copan and Quirigua
  • Southeastern Mesoamerica and the Intermediate Area
  • The Gods Must be Angry: The Southern Coast and the Eruption of Ilopango
  • Elsewhere in Southeastern Mesoamerica
  • The Intermediate Area
  • Isthmus, Coastal Plain, Chiapas, and Guatemala Highlands
  • Maya Highlands
  • The Long Shadow of Teotihuacan
  • Looking Ahead: Mid-Classic Maya Upheavals
  • pt. 4 LATE CLASSIC, CLASSIC COLLAPSE, AND EPICLASSIC
  • ch. 12 The Lowland Maya: Apogee and Collapse (AD 600-900)
  • Late Classic Maya Culture
  • Courtly Life at the Height of the Late Classic
  • Contents note continued: Special Feature Women and Weaving
  • Maya of the Southern Lowlands
  • AD 600-700
  • Palenque and Pakal the Great
  • Yaxchilan
  • Calakmul in its Prime, Tikal Split in Two
  • AD 700-800
  • AD 800-900
  • Special Feature Construction Costs
  • Causes of Collapse at Copan and Elsewhere
  • Elsewhere Among the Maya
  • Southeastern Mesoamerica and the Intermediate Area
  • The Pacific Coast
  • The Guatemala Highlands and Chiapas Interior Plateau
  • The End of the Classic Period in the Isthmus and East
  • ch. 13 The Late Classic and Epiclassic in the West (AD 600-1000/1100)
  • Special Feature What Was the Feathered Serpent?
  • The Basin of Mexico and Regions to its North and West
  • Basin of Mexico
  • Coyotlatelco Pottery and Culture
  • Tula Region
  • The Bajio
  • Northwestern Frontier
  • West Mexico
  • Gulf Lowlands
  • Northern Gulf Lowlands: The Huasteca
  • Central Gulf Lowlands
  • Special Feature Metalworking
  • South-central Gulf Lowlands
  • North-central Gulf Lowlands and El Tajin
  • Puebla, Tlaxcala, and Morelos
  • Eastern Puebla
  • Western Puebla, Tlaxcala, and Morelos
  • Morelos
  • Mixtec Regions and Oaxaca
  • Oaxaca and Monte Alban
  • Further Developments
  • ch. 14 Maya Collapse and Survival (AD 800-1200)
  • Northwestern Yucatan: The Puuc Region
  • Kabah, Sayil, and Labna
  • Uxmal
  • Northeastern Yucatan: Coba and Its Region
  • Vectors of Change: Chichen Itza and the Putun Maya
  • Putun, Chontal, Itza: Traders along the Gulf Coast
  • Chichen Itza
  • Special Feature Ball Courts and the Ball Game
  • Southern Pacific Coast and Southeastern Mesoamerica
  • Special Feature Inventing the Wheel in the Service of the Gods
  • Cihuatan and Santa Maria
  • Western Honduras
  • ch. 15 The Rise of Tula and Other Epiclassic Transformations (AD 900-1200)
  • Tula and Toltec Culture
  • Special Feature Intoxicants and Hallucinogens
  • Historical and Ecological Roots of Tula's Religion
  • The Northern and North-central Gulf Lowlands in Toltec Times
  • Tula's Major Deities
  • Special Feature Female Deities
  • Local and Long-distance Economy
  • Toltec Influence upon West Mexico, the Northwestern Frontier, and the Northern Arid Zone
  • The Northern Arid Zone: Mesoamerica and the Puebloan or "Great House" Cultures
  • Mesoamerican and Mississippian Cultures
  • Gods, Heroes, and Antiheroes
  • Tula's Neighboring Regions
  • Michoacan, Toluca, Morelos
  • The Basin of Mexico
  • Puebla/Tlaxcala and the Southwestern Highlands
  • Cholula and the Valley of Puebla
  • Special Feature Migrants and Origins
  • Puebla, Tlaxacala, Tehuacan, and Oaxaca
  • In Conclusion
  • pt. 5 THE POSTCLASSIC AND THE RISE OF THE AZTECS
  • ch. 16 The Middle Postclassic (1200s-1430)
  • Middle Postclassic and Late Postclassic
  • Segmentary States of the Middle Postclassic Period
  • East of the Isthmus and the Gulf Lowlands
  • Northern Maya Lowlands: Mayapan's Rise and Fall
  • Guatemala Highlands
  • Southern Pacific Coastal Plain and Isthmus of Tehuantepec
  • Gulf Lowlands and Southern Central Highlands
  • West Mexico: The Rise of the Tarascans of Michoacan
  • The Basin of Mexico
  • Special Feature Being Born Aztec
  • City-states and Confederations of the Basin of Mexico
  • Special Feature Chinampas
  • Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco, the Atypical City-state of the Mexica
  • ch. 17 The Aztecs: An Empire is Born (1430-1455)
  • Basin of Mexico
  • Early Years of the Mexica at Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco
  • Special Feature The Great Temple of the Aztecs
  • Conquest of the Alcolhua Domain by Tepaneca and Mexica
  • Special Feature Growing up Aztec
  • Crisis and Conflict in the Late 1420s: The Tepanec War
  • Social Strata Among the Aztecs
  • The Process of Social Stratification Among the Aztecs
  • Nezahualcoyotl and the Consolidation of the Acolhua Domain, 1430s
  • Beyond the Basin: Triple Alliance Conquests in the 1430s
  • 1450s: Disasters and Development in the Basin of Mexico
  • Setting the Stage for Empire
  • ch. 18 The Aztec Empire Develops (1455-1486)
  • After the Great Famine
  • Palaces and Government
  • Special Feature Aztec Palaces
  • Motecuzoma Ilhuicamina Part Two: 1455-1469
  • Monumental Gardens: Nezahualcoyotl's Texcotzingo, Motecuzoma's Huaxtepec
  • A New Period of Aztec Expansion: East to the Gulf Lowlands
  • The Mixteca and Oaxaca Under Aztec Rule
  • The Reign of Axayacatl, 1469-1481
  • Palace Scandals and Death in the Basin of Mexico
  • The Tarascan Empire and Tzintzuntzan
  • Special Feature Aztec Sex and Marriage
  • Tizoc, 1481-1486
  • Eagle Knights, Jaguar Knights
  • ch. 19 The Aztec Empire at Its Height (1486-1519)
  • Ahuitzotl, 1486-1502
  • Rededication of the Templo Mayor: Human Sacrifice and Cannibalism
  • Aztec Conquests on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala and Chiapas
  • Hydrological Challenges to Tenochtitlan, and Ahuitzotl's Response
  • Motecuzoma Xocoyotzin, 1502-1520
  • The Intermediate Area as the Spaniards Found It
  • Southeastern Mesoamerica
  • Southeastern Maya of the Late Postclassic
  • Spaniards and Maya Along the Coast of Yucatan
  • Northern Maya Lowlands
  • The Southeastern Highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala
  • Along the Gulf Coast
  • Campeche + Tabasco = Acalan
  • South-central Gulf Lowlands
  • ch. 20 The Conquest of Mexico and Its Aftermath
  • The Spaniards Collect Allies
  • Tlaxcala
  • Special Feature Aztec Feasting
  • Puebla
  • Motecuzoma, Prisoner of Fear
  • Special Feature How Many People Lived in Tenochtitlan
  • Early Colonial New Spain
  • World of Wonders
  • Indigenous Utopia: The Franciscan Perspective
  • The Living Past.

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