Synopses & Reviews
This major revision of Richard E. W. Adamsand#8217;s classic text on the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica adds new information available from archaeological fieldwork in the region from the 1990s through 2004 and also evaluates recent theories regarding the remarkable prehistoric cultures of a region that today encompasses Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador.
This up-to-date overview provides an introduction to Mesoamerican studies, a brief geographic sketch of the region, and a summary of the major features of its civilizations. Adams follows with a detailed examination of each period of Mesoamerican cultural history, from early prehistoric times through the rise and fall of various city-states to the ascendancy and ultimate fall of the Aztec Empire.
Prehistoric Mesoamerica will be of interest to both students and scholars in the field and to general readers interested in the rich diversity of Mesoamerican art, society, politics, and intellectual achievement.
Synopsis
This is one of the most widely used textbooks in the USA and in this revised edition has been substantially updated from recent archaeological fieldwork. It presents a balanced summary and overview of the region that is today Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Following an introduction to Mesoamerican studies, a brief geographic sketch of the region and a summary of the major features of its civilisations, Adams examines in detail each period of cultural history: the first immigrants, the Olmec and their contemporaries; Maya beginnings and classic civilisation; the great cities of Teotihuacan and Monte Alban; the rise and fall of the Toltec; and the civilisations of the Tarascans, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Totonacs, and Aztecs. "A magnificently coherent picture of our current knowledge in the field of Mexican and Central American pre-Columbian cultures" National Geographic Research and Exploration.
Synopsis
An up-to-date overview of Mesoamerican cultures from early prehistoric times through the fall of the Aztec Empire, Prehistoric Mesoamerica, Third Edition will be useful and appealing to readers interested in Mesoamerican art, society, politics, and intellectual achievement.
About the Author
Richard E. W. Adams has conducted more than forty years of fieldwork in Mesoamerican archaeology and has authored or edited fourteen books on the subject. He is Ashbel Smith Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas, San Antonio.