Archaeology at El Perú-Waka'

Archaeology at El Perú-Waka'
Author: Olivia C. Navarro-Farr
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2015-08-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816532419

Archaeology at El Perú-Waka’ is the first book to summarize long-term research at this major Maya site. The results of fieldwork and subsequent analyses conducted by members of the El Perú-Waka’ Regional Archaeological Project are coupled with theoretical approaches treating the topics of ritual, memory, and power as deciphered through material remains discovered at Waka’. The book is site-centered, yet the fifteen wide-ranging contributions offer readers greater insight to the richness and complexity of Classic-period Maya culture, as well as to the ways in which archaeologists believe ancient peoples negotiated their ritual lives and comprehended their own pasts. El Perú-Waka’ is an ancient Maya city located in present-day northwestern Petén, Guatemala. Rediscovered by petroleum exploration workers in the mid-1960s, it is the largest known archaeological site in the Laguna del Tigre National Park in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve. The El Perú-Waka’ Regional Archaeological Project initiated scientific investigations in 2003, and through excavation and survey, researchers established that Waka’ was a key political and economic center well integrated into Classic-period lowland Maya civilization, and reconstructed many aspects of Maya life and ritual activity in this ancient community. The research detailed in this volume provides a wealth of new, substantive, and scientifically excavated data, which contributors approach with fresh theoretical insights. In the process, they lay out sound strategies for understanding the ritual manipulation of monuments, landscapes, buildings, objects, and memories, as well as related topics encompassing the performance and negotiation of power throughout the city’s extensive sociopolitical history.

Peruvian Archaeology

Peruvian Archaeology
Author: Henry Tantaleán
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2016-07-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1315422719

This book offers a unique, critical perspective on the history of Peruvian archaeology by a native scholar. Leading Peruvian archaeologist Henry Tantaleán illuminates the cultural legacy of colonialism beginning with “founding father” Max Uhle and traces key developments to the present. These include the growth of Peruvian institutions; major figures from Tello and Valcárcel to Larco, Rowe, and Murra; war, political upheaval, and Peruvian regimes; developments in archaeological and social science theory as they impacted Andean archaeology; and modern concerns such as heritage, neoliberalism, and privatization. This post-colonial perspective on research and its sociopolitical context is an essential contribution to Andean archaeology and the growing international dialogue on the history of archaeology.

The Archaeology and Pottery of Nazca, Peru

The Archaeology and Pottery of Nazca, Peru
Author: Alfred Louis Kroeber
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 306
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780761989646

Submitted a little late for spring term, Kroeber's report remains the only complete analysis and seriation of the beautiful painted pottery of the important site, with over 400 photographs and drawings. It remained unfinished when he died in 1960; colleagues have edited and completed it, adding some color photographs, a background preface, and a survey of research since 1926. The report now also provides a glimpse into the methods and mentality of early American archaeology. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Memoirs

Memoirs
Author: Field Museum of Natural History. Department of Anthropology
Publisher:
Total Pages: 412
Release: 1926
Genre:
ISBN:

Andean Archaeology I

Andean Archaeology I
Author: William H. Isbell
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1461506395

Study of the origin and development of civilization is of unequaled importance for understanding the cultural processes that create human societies. Is cultural evolution directional and regular across human societies and history, or is it opportunistic and capricious? Do apparent regularities come from the way inves tigators construct and manage knowledge, or are they the result of real constraints on and variations in the actual processes? Can such questions even be answered? We believe so, but not easily. By comparing evolutionary sequences from different world civilizations scholars can judge degrees of similarity and difference and then attempt explanation. Of course, we must be careful to assess the influence that societies of the ancient world had on one another (the issue of pristine versus non-pristine cultural devel opment: see discussion in Fried 1967; Price 1978). The Central Andes were the locus of the only societies to achieve pristine civilization in the southern hemi sphere and only in the Central Andes did non-literate (non-written language) civ ilization develop. It seems clear that Central Andean civilization was independent on any graph of archaic culture change. Scholars have often expressed appreciation of the research opportunities offered by the Central Andes as a testing ground for the study of cultural evolu tion (see, e. g. , Carneiro 1970; Ford and Willey 1949: 5; Kosok 1965: 1-14; Lanning 1967: 2-5).