New Distributed Titles Fall 2009 - Oxbow Books

Inca Rituals and Sacred Mountains
A Study of the World’s Highest Archaeological Site
by Johan Reinhard and Maria Constanza Ceruti
The Incas carried out some of the most dramatic ceremonies known to us from ancient
times. Groups of people walked hundreds of miles across arid and mountainous terrain
to perform them on mountains over 6,096 m (20,000 feet) high. The most important offerings
made during these pilgrimages involved human sacrifices (capacochas). Although
Spanish chroniclers wrote about these offerings and the state sponsored processions of
which they were a part, their accounts were based on second-hand sources, and the only
direct evidence we have of the capacocha sacrifices comes to us from archaeological excavations.
In this study we describe the results of research undertaken on Mount Llullaillaco,
which has the world’s highest archaeological site. The types of ruins and artifact assemblages
recovered are described and analyzed. By comparing the archaeological evidence
with the chroniclers’ accounts and findings from other mountaintop sites, common patterns
are demonstrated.
300p, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, October 2009, Cotsen Monographs 67.
paperback, 9781931745772, $44.95; hardback, 9781931745765, $80.00(s)
Settlement and Subsistence
in Early Formative Soconusco
El Varal and the Problem
of Inter-Site Assemblage Variation
edited by Richard G Lesure
This volume sets archaeological excavations at a
special-purpose estuary site in coastal Chiapas,
Mexico, into the larger anthropological context
of the origins of agriculture and sedentary life
in ancient Mesoamerica. The site of El Varal is
located in the Soconusco region, a narrow strip
of the Pacific coast of Chiapas and neighboring Guatemala that is sharply defined inland
by the rise of the Sierra Madre escarpment. The diverse biotic zones of the area run in
strips parallel to the ocean. The Varal work will be important for understandings of Early
Formative social life in the region.
275p, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, July 2009, Cotsen Monographs 65.
paperback, 9781931745796, $49.95; hardback, 9781931745789, $85.00(s)
american archaeology
Blood and Beauty
Organized Violence in the Art and Archaeology
of Mesoamerica and Central America
edited by Heather Orr and Rex Koontz
In Blood and Beauty, authors specializing
in the anthropology, archaeology, art
history, and linguistics of Mesoamerica
and Central America bring new data and
interpretive strategies to bear on the
nature of institutional violence in these
ancient societies. The volume covers a
broad time frame, from circa 1200 BCE
to the sixteenth century, including recent
ethnography. The volume endeavors to
contextualize violence and violent acts
within the matrix of indigenous thought
and culture. Chapter topics reflect that desire, including localized, culturally
specific examinations of warfare, sacrifice, ballgames, boxing, pain, and healing.
While there is no overarching theoretical perspective, the contributors are
sensitive to current theoretical discourse, including recent perspectives on
organized violence and the agency of artworks.
490p, col illus, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, September 2009,
Ideas, Debates and Perspectives 4.
paperback, 9781931745031, $65.00
hardback, 9781931745802, $95.00(s)
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