New Distributed Titles Fall 2009 - Oxbow Books

american archaeology
Gallinazo
An Early Cultural Tradition on the Peruvian North Coast
edited by Jean-François Millaire and Magali Morlion
Over the last decades, considerable effort
has been directed towards the study of
early complex societies of northern Peru
and the art and archaeology of the Moche,
Lambayeque and Chimú societies. Yet, comparatively
little attention has been paid to the
earlier cultural foundations of north coast
civilization: the Gallinazo. This volume is the
result of a round table, which gathered international
scholars to discuss the Gallinazo
phenomenon. Fourteen chapters reconsider
the nature of the Gallinazo culture and its
position within north-coast cultural history,
while addressing wider issues about the development
of complex societies in this area
and within the Andean region in general.
300p, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, November 2009, Cotsen Monographs 66.
paperback, 9781931745758, $55.00; hardback, 9781931745741, $95.00(s)
12
The Technology of Maya Civilization
Political Economy and Beyond in Lithic Studies
by Zachary X Hruby, Geoffrey E Braswell
and Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos
The ancient Maya shaped their world with stone tools. Lithic artifacts
helped create the cityscape, were central to warfare and hunting,
were key to craft activities, were used to process food, and were employed
in ritual performance. This volume expands our understanding
of the past by considering Maya lithic artifacts made of chert,
obsidian, silicified limestone, and jade. Using these as sources of data,
lithic specialists examine the relationship between ancient people
and natural resources, and ask questions regarding social organization and political economy. The editors
bring together a detailed, comprehensive view of Maya stone artifacts that is crafted from new research,
progressive analytical methods, and innovative anthropological theory. Thought-provoking introductions
and conclusions contextualize the past thirty years of research on Maya stone tools and look to the future
of the field. Particular emphasis is given not to lithic technology, but to lithic systems as a technology of
civilization. Case studies based on original data collected at archaeological sites in Guatemala, Mexico,
Belize, and Honduras form the bulk of the volume. Limitations presented by the availability of resources,
the social context of production, the control of technology and esoteric knowledge, and political economy
are key issues addressed by the contributors.
288p, 58 illus, hardback, 9781845535087, $100.00, Equinox Publishing, December 2009,
Approaches to Anthropological Archaeology.
Talking Artifacts
The Twentieth-Century Legacy
by Stanley South
Researchers are becoming
increasingly interested in
understanding the behaviors
and processes representative
of the recent
past. This book provides
an illustration, analysis,
and pattern recognition
of the artifact legacy of a
twentieth century middle-class
American family.
Historical archaeologists,
historians, and museum curators and exhibit designers will find this
book and the author’s Household Artifact Pattern useful in furthering
their understanding of the role played by artifacts in the cultural processes
at work in the past century.
c. 330p, paperback, 9780979773143, $49.50(s),
Eliot Werner Publications, October 2009.
The David Brown Book Company – Fall 2009