Recent Investigations in the Puuc Region of Yucatán


Book Description

Papers focus on the history of the Puuc region, Yucatán, incorporating archaeological, architectural, epigraphic, and iconographic studies.




The Americas


Book Description

This five-volume set presents some 1,000 comprehensive and fully illustrated histories of the most famous sites in the world. Entries include location, description, and site details, and a 3,000- to 4,000-word essay that provides a full history of the site and its condition today. An annotated further reading list of books and articles about the site completes each entry. The geographically organized volumes include: * Volume 1: The Americas * [1-884964-00-1] * Volume 2: Northern Europe * [1-884964-01-X] * Volume 3: Southern Europe * [1-884964-02-8] * Volume 4: Middle East & Africa * [1-884964-03-6] * Volume 5: Asia & Oceania * [1-884964-04-4]




The Art and Architecture of Ancient America


Book Description

Offers a survey of the paintings and architecture of the Mexican, Mayan, and Andean peoples




The Long Silence (2)


Book Description

In The Long Silence, first published 2011, Stephan Merk described the standing Maya Puuc architecture of a 100 square kilometer wide area in Northern Campeche, México. The Long Silence (2) presents the results of the architectural survey of an equally large and almost untouched region immediately south, and compares the results of both projects. With additional contributions by Nicholas Dunning and Eric Weaver, Daniel Graña-Behrens, Guido Krempel, and Karl Herbert Mayer.




An Introduction to the Yucatan


Book Description

This is an extensive introduction to this area of Mexico, extracted from our much larger Adventure Guide to the Yucatan. Experience the places you visit more directly, freshly, intensely than you would otherwise -sometimes best done on foot, in a canoe, or through cultural adventures like art courses, cooking classes, learning the language, meeting the people, joining in the festivals and celebrations. This can make your trip life-changing, unforgettable. All of the detailed information you need is here about the hotels, restaurants, shopping, sightseeing. But we also lead you to new discoveries, turning corners you haven't turned before, helping you to interact with the world in new ways. That's what makes our Adventure Guides unique. "Latest edition of a highly-recommended guidebook to this fascinating corner of Mexico, a region which the authors describe as "a big hitch-hiking thumb." Their interest and hard work has paid off in both editions. The book is loaded with hotel and transportation info, great maps and interesting art work. Eco travelers will love this guidebook. The author provides full details on kayaking, hiking, rappelling, and camping in the region. She also features more out-of-the-way attractions such as natural cenotes, ancient ruins and colonial towns. Of special note -- this is the first guidebook to feature a section on colonial era hacienda hotels, including both luxurious hotels and working haciendas where readers can experience authentic Yucatecan living in fine accommodations that are also economically priced. Indigenous artists in Maya villages are also profiled. As if all this weren't enough, the second edition includes a "Top 20" feature of things to do and see in the Yucatan. By far, this is the most comprehensive guidebook to the region." -- Planeta.com Journal "Comparing your book to Lonely Planet's - your book won hands down on every level. It was AWESOME!" -- Erika Holm "Profiles 49 Maya destinations, excellent trip planning hints, detailed maps and advice from health precautions to getting around." -- Anton Newspapers "Your Yucatan guide is great.....Keep up the good work." -- Bill Bell "I am the author of the thriller/adventure "A Tourist in the Yucatan" and I recently reviewed "Adventures Guide to the Yucatan." In my opinion, this is a "must have" book for the adventure minded traveler! The authors has done an excellent job in putting together the ultimate adventure guide book to the Yucatan. For many travelers, a trip to the Yucatan means mostly sitting on the beach soaking in the sun. The typical tourist only sees a small fraction of what this fascinating section of Mexico has to offer. Inland are ancient Mayan ruins hidden in the jungle and colonial cities that date back to the 1500's. Available activities are diverse from scuba diving on tropical reefs or into cenotes or caves to kayaking, camping, or just getting off the beaten track and meeting the "REAL PEOPLE." This book does a great job of outlining all the possibilities available in a straight forward and easy to read style. The introduction section should be very helpful to the first time traveler and there are lots of maps to help you find your way." -- James Brunfeld This book offers tons of recommendations for everything from tour operators to restaurants to hotels in every price budget. All are based on first-hand experience from authors who know the Yucatan intimately. Comprehensive background information - history, culture, geography and climate - gives you a solid knowledge of each destination and its people. Regional chapters take you on an introductory tour, with stops at museums, historic sites and local attractions. Places to stay and eat; transportation to, from and around your destination; practical concerns; tourism contacts - it's all here! Detailed regional and town maps feature walking and driving tours. Then come the adventures - fishing, canoeing, hiking, rafting, llama trips and more.




Mesoamerica's Ancient Cities


Book Description

The authors have thoroughly revised the text for this new edition, and they have added over thirty new photographs and illustrations as well as a completely new chapter by Richard E. W. Adams on regional states and empires in ancient Mesoamerica."--BOOK JACKET.




The Maya and Climate Change


Book Description

"The Classic Maya civilization thrived between 200-950 CE in the tropical forests of eastern Mesoamerica before undergoing a period of breakdown and transformation known colloquially as the Classic Maya Collapse. This book draws on archaeological, environmental, and historical datasets to provide a comprehensive overview of Classic Maya human-environment relationships, including how communities addressed challenges wrought by climate change. Researchers today understand that the breakdown of Classic Maya society was the result of many long-term processes. Yet the story that continues to grip the public imagination is that Maya civilization mysteriously "collapsed." This book shifts the focus from the Classic Maya "collapse" to the multitude examples of adaptive flexibility that allowed Pre-Colonial Maya communities to persevere in a challenging natural environment for over seven centuries. This idea is so enthralling partly because it makes people think about the impermanence of present-day society. A misunderstanding of Maya conservation practices persists in non-academic circles to the disservice not only of the Pre-Colonial Maya, but also to their descendants living in eastern Mesoamerica today. Although the Classic Maya civilization did not leave behind much in the way of secret environmental knowledge for us to rediscover (that is unfortunately rarely how archaeology works), a critical lesson that can be learned from studying the Classic Maya is the importance of socio-ecological adaptability-the ability and willingness to change cultural practices to address long-term challenges"--




Ancient Mesoamerican Population History


Book Description

Establishing ancient population numbers and determining how they were distributed across a landscape over time constitute two of the most pressing problems in archaeology. Accurate population data is crucial for modeling, interpreting, and understanding the past. Now, advances in both archaeology and technology have changed the way that such approximations can be achieved. Including research from both highland central Mexico and the tropical lowlands of the Maya and Olmec areas, this book reexamines the demography in ancient Mesoamerica. Contributors present methods for determining population estimates, field methods for settlement pattern studies to obtain demographic data, and new technologies such as LiDAR (light detecting and ranging) that have expanded views of the ground in forested areas. Contributions to this book provide a view of ancient landscape use and modification that was not possible in the twentieth century. This important new work provides new understandings of Mesoamerican urbanism, development, and changes over time. Contributors Traci Ardren M. Charlotte Arnauld Bárbara Arroyo Luke Auld-Thomas Marcello A. Canuto Adrian S. Z. Chase Arlen F. Chase Diane Z. Chase Elyse D. Z. Chase Javier Estrada Gary M. Feinman L. J. Gorenflo Julien Hiquet Scott R. Hutson Gerardo Jiménez Delgado Eva Lemonnier Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo José Lobo Javier López Mejía Michael L. Loughlin Deborah L. Nichols Christopher A. Pool Ian G. Robertson Jeremy A. Sabloff Travis W. Stanton




A Forest of History


Book Description

David Freidel and Linda Schele’s monumental work A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya (1990) offered an innovative, rigorous, and controversial approach to studying the ancient Maya, unifying archaeological, iconographic, and epigraphic data in a form accessible to both scholars and laypeople. Travis Stanton and Kathryn Brown’s A Forest of History: The Maya after the Emergence of Divine Kingship presents a collection of essays that critically engage with and build upon the lasting contributions A Forest of Kings made to Maya epigraphy, iconography, material culture, and history. These original papers present new, cutting-edge research focusing on the social changes leading up to the spread of divine kingship across the lowlands in the first part of the Early Classic. The contributors continue avenues of inquiry such as the timing of the Classic Maya collapse across the southern lowlands, the nature of Maya warfare, the notion of usurpation and “stranger-kings” in the Classic period, the social relationships between the ruler and elite of the Classic period Yaxchilán polity, and struggles for sociopolitical dominance among the later Classic period polities of Chichén Itzá, Cobá, and the Puuc kingdoms. Many of the interpretations and approaches in A Forest of Kings have withstood the test of time, while others have not; a complete understanding of the Classic Maya world is still developing. In A Forest of History recent discoveries are considered in the context of prior scholarship, illustrating both the progress the field has made in the past quarter century and the myriad questions that remain. The volume will be a significant contribution to the literature for students, scholars, and general readers interested in Mesoamerican and Maya archaeology. Contributors: Wendy Ashmore, Arlen F. Chase, Diane Z. Chase, Wilberth Cruz Alvarado, Arthur A. Demarest, Keith Eppich, David A. Freidel, Charles W. Golden, Stanley P. Guenter, Annabeth Headrick, Aline Magnoni, Joyce Marcus, Marilyn A. Masson, Damaris Menéndez, Susan Milbrath, Olivia C. Navarro-Farr, José Osorio León, Carlos Peraza Lope, Juan Carlos Pérez Calderón, Griselda Pérez Robles, Francisco Pérez Ruíz, Michelle Rich, Jeremy A. Sabloff, Andrew K. Scherer, Karl A. Taube




The Archaeology of Yucatán: New Directions and Data


Book Description

This volume was conceived to provide a forum for Mexican and foreign scholars to publish new data and interpretations on the archaeology of the northern Maya lowlands, specifically the State of Yucatan.




Recent Books