Palaces and courtly culture in ancient Mesoamerica /
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Mesoamerica is one of the cradles of early civilizations in the ancient world, featuring a wide diversity of cultures exhibiting a high degree of social inequality and stratification. At the pinnacle of the society was the ruler, the court and the high elite. This social segment was responsible for the creation and consumption of the hallmarks of civilizations, including monumental architecture, great monolithic monuments and a wide array of highly decorated, exotic and exceptional material culture. As such royal courts defined the very tastes and styles that characterise entire civilizations. This volume collects eight recent and innovative studies on the subject rulership, palatial compounds and courtly culture by staff and students of the American Indian Languages and Culture studies programme at Department of Cross-cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
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1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
9781784910518 (PDF ebook) :
Metallurgy in ancient Ecuador : a study of the collection of archaeological metallurgy of the Ministry of Culture, Ecuador /
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Metallurgical activity was present in Ecuador from at least 1500 BC; by around the beginning of the Common Era metallurgical manufacture and use had extended to most of the Costa and Sierra. Regional styles soon evolved giving rise to high levels of technical craftsmanship and to shaping particular iconographic and decorative patterns. Copper, gold, silver and platinum were mined, processed and converted into thousands of ornaments, offerings, tools and weapons extensively used both by elites and by the common people. This work discusses this topic.
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1 online resource : illustrations (colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781784911614 (PDF ebook) :
Tarascan pottery production in Michoacán, Mexico : an ethnoarchaeological perspective /
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This work examines a contemporary pottery tradition in Mesoamerica, but also looks back to the earliest examples of cultural development in this area. By means of ethnographic analogy and ceramic ecology, this study seeks to shed light on a modern indigenous community and on the theory, method and practice of ethnoarchaeology.
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Previously issued in print: 2017. :
1 online resource (xii, 170 pages) : illustrations (black and white) :
Specialized. :
9781784916749 (ebook) :
Ancient engineering : selective ceramic processing in the Middle Balsas region of Guerrero, Mexico /
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This volume has two main objectives: establishing a chronology of the Middle Balsas and detailing the region's pottery production methods. The author posits that pottery intended for different functions was often deliberately made and/or decorated in ways that were chosen to make the vessels more appropriate for their intended functions.
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Previously issued in print: 2017. :
1 online resource (xiv, 352 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
9781784916510 (ebook) :
The Sacred Mountain of Colombia's Kogi Indians /
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The Kogi Indians of the Sierra Nevada, an isolated mountain massif of northern Colombia, have preserved much of their cultural heritage, notwithstanding the onslaught of outside influences. To the casual observer their austere and withdrawn way of life presents a picture of abject poverty but long-term ethnological study reveals dimensions of inner depth which are evidence of a very rich and cherished tradition going back to pre-Conquest times. Kogi cosmogony and cosmology, their religious philosophy, and their interpretation of nature, as described by men of priestly training, bear witness to a creative imagination of great power. This study tells us of their macrocosm and microcosm; the structure of the universe and the spinning of cotton thread; time-space concepts and the symbolism of a small gourd vessel; biological cycles and temple architecture, and all this within the compass of a sacred mountain which to the Kogi is the centre of the universe. The ethnological importance of this essay is equalled by its value to the Humanities, and opens a new dimension of Amerindian studies.
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1 online resource (98 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004420533