Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
As research in and around archaeology in South America flourishes as never before, this new four-volume set from Routledge's new Critical Concepts in Archaeology series meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of a rapidly growing and ever more complex corpus of literature. Edited by two world-class scholars, the collection assembles foundational and canonical work, together with innovative and cutting-edge applications and interventions.
The gathered works, from leading local and global authorities on South America, present the dynamic evolutionary processes of the ancient societies and principal geographical regions of the continent and interrogate issues such as: environmental setting and ecological adaptations; social (in)equality; identity formation; long-distance and intercultural interaction; religious systems and their material manifestations; ideological orientations; and political and economic organization. The collection also includes a full section on archaeological theory in South America, and has been organized thematically readily to permit geographical comparisons, notably between the Andes and greater Amazonia.
For novices, the collection will be particularly useful as an essential database allowing scattered and often fugitive material to be easily located. And, for more advanced scholars, it will be welcomed as a crucial tool permitting rapid access to less familiar--and sometimes overlooked--texts. For both, South American Archaeology will be valued as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.