Religion in the Prehispanic Southwest

Religion in the Prehispanic Southwest
Author: Christine S. VanPool
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2007-01-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0759113955

Religion mattered to the prehistoric Southwestern people, just as it matters to their descendents today. Examining the role of religion can help to explain architecture, pottery, agriculture, even commerce. But archaeologists have only recently developed the theoretical and methodological tools with which to study this topic. Religion in the Prehispanic Southwest marks the first book-length study of prehistoric religion in the region. Drawing on a rich array of empirical approaches, the contributors show the importance of understanding beliefs and ritual for a range of time periods and southwestern societies. For professional and avocational archaeologists, for religion scholars and students, Religion in the Prehispanic Southwest represents an important contribution.

Religious Transformation in the Late Pre-Hispanic Pueblo World

Religious Transformation in the Late Pre-Hispanic Pueblo World
Author: Donna M. Glowacki
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816503982

The mid-thirteenth century AD marks the beginning of tremendous social change among Ancestral Pueblo peoples of the northern US Southwest that foreshadow the emergence of the modern Pueblo world. Regional depopulations, long-distance migrations, and widespread resettlement into large plaza-oriented villages forever altered community life. Archaeologists have tended to view these historical events as adaptive responses to climatic, environmental, and economic conditions. Recently, however, more attention is being given to the central role of religion during these transformative periods, and to how archaeological remains embody the complex social practices through which Ancestral Pueblo understandings of sacred concepts were expressed and transformed. The contributors to this volume employ a wide range of archaeological evidence to examine the origin and development of religious ideologies and the ways they shaped Pueblo societies across the Southwest in the centuries prior to European contact. With its fresh theoretical approach, it contributes to a better understanding of both the Pueblo past and the anthropological study of religion in ancient contexts This volume will be of interest to both regional specialists and to scholars who work with the broader dimensions of religion and ritual in the human experience.

Flower Worlds

Flower Worlds
Author: Michael Mathiowetz
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2021-05-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0816542325

The recognition of Flower Worlds is one of the most significant breakthroughs in the study of Indigenous spirituality in the Americas.Flower Worldsis the first volume to bring together a diverse range of scholars to create an interdisciplinary understanding of floral realms that extend at least 2,500 years in the past.

An Archaeology of Religion

An Archaeology of Religion
Author: Kit W. Wesler
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2012
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0761858458

An Archaeology of Religion challenges traditional conventions by refusing to respect the geographic and temporal boundaries with which archaeologists too often define their field. This book is an ambitious attempt to survey how scholars approach the identification of religious sites and practices in the archaeological record.

Potters and Communities of Practice

Potters and Communities of Practice
Author: Linda S. Cordell
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2015-11-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816544530

The peoples of the American Southwest during the 13th through the 17th centuries witnessed dramatic changes in settlement size, exchange relationships, ideology, social organization, and migrations that included those of the first European settlers. Concomitant with these world-shaking events, communities of potters began producing new kinds of wares—particularly polychrome and glaze-paint decorated pottery—that entailed new technologies and new materials. The contributors to this volume present results of their collaborative research into the production and distribution of these new wares, including cutting-edge chemical and petrographic analyses. They use the insights gained to reflect on the changing nature of communities of potters as they participated in the dynamic social conditions of their world.

The Oxford Handbook of North American Archaeology

The Oxford Handbook of North American Archaeology
Author: Timothy R. Pauketat
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 693
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190241098

The Oxford Handbook of North American Archaeology reviews the continent's first and last foragers, farmers, and great pre-Columbian civic and ceremonial centers, from Chaco Canyon to Moundville and beyond.

Ancient West Mexicos

Ancient West Mexicos
Author: Joshua D. Englehardt
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Total Pages: 395
Release: 2020-04-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0813057450

The ancient societies of western Mexico have long been understudied and misunderstood. Focusing on recent archaeological data, Ancient West Mexicos highlights the diversity and complexity of the region’s pre-Columbian cultures and argues that western Mexico was more similar to the rest of the Mesoamerican world than many researchers have believed. Chapters that treat investigations in Durango, Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, and Michoacán draw on new evidence dating from across millennia, spanning different periods in Mesoamerican history. Contributors analyze materials including ceramics, architectural remains, textiles, and weaving tools to discern the settlement patterns, political structures, and cosmologies of the people who lived at these sites. Featuring intriguing case studies that point to unexpected pathways to sociopolitical complexity in ancient societies, these essays illustrate that the region’s archaeological record can contribute meaningfully to a more nuanced picture of Mesoamerica as a whole. Contributors: Laura Almendros López | Christopher S. Beekman | Mijaely Castañón | Fabio Germán Cupul-Magaña | Manuel Dueñas García | Joshua D. Englehardt | Rafael García de Quevedo-Machain | Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza | Erika Ibarra | Stephen A. Kowalewski | Martha Lorenza López Mestas Camberos | Michael Mathiowetz | Joseph B. Mountjoy | David Muñiz García | M. Nicolás Caretta | José Luis Punzo Díaz | Diego Rangel | Kimberly Sumano Ortega | Jesús Zarco

An Anthropological Study of Spirits

An Anthropological Study of Spirits
Author: Christine S. VanPool
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2023-05-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3031259203

This book discusses the cultural importance of spirits, what spirits want, and how humans interact with them, using examples from around the world and through time. Examples range from the vengeful spirits of the Zulu that cast lightning bolts from clear skies to punish wrongdoers, to the benevolent Puebloan Kachina that encourage prosperity, safety, and rain in the arid American Southwest. The case studies illustrate how humans seek to cooperate (or counteract) spirits to heal the physical and spiritual ailments of their people, to divine the truth, or to gain resources. Building from their cross-cultural analyses, the authors further discuss how our physiology and psychology impact our interaction with the spirits. Readers will come away with an appreciation of the beauty and power of the spirits that continue to shape the lives of people around the world.

Networks and Religion

Networks and Religion
Author: Sean F. Everton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 415
Release: 2018-07-12
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1108416705

This book uses social network analysis to explore the various effects that social networks have on religious belief and practice.

Power from Below in Premodern Societies

Power from Below in Premodern Societies
Author: T. L. Thurston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2021-10-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1316515397

This volume challenges traditional narratives on power, moving away from elite-centered models and focusing instead on the archaeology of commoners.