Wari women from Huarmey : bioarchaeological interpretation of human remains from the Wari Elite Mausoleum at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru /
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Excavations at the Castillo de Huarmey archaeological site brought to light the first intact burial of female high-elite members of the Wari culture. It was found beneath a large adobe mausoleum, a landmark and focal point of the lower Huarmey Valley. Abundant grave goods, among which were precious metal artefacts, luxurious pottery, beautifully decorated bone and wooden objects, as well as spinning and weaving utensils, leave no doubt about the social status of individuals buried within the main chamber. The very unique character of the find was additionally emphasised by the fact that all of the buried individuals were women, accompanied by two grave guardians, and the remains of ancestors. This book presents the results of bioarchaeological analyses performed to date, and focuses on reconstructing the funeral rite and social status of the deceased.
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Previously issued in print: 2019. :
1 online resource (vi, 152 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781789691856 (ebook) :
Patrones de asentamiento del Malpaís de Zacapu (Michoacán, México) y de sus alrededores en el Posclásico /
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This volume presents the results of the archaeological studies relative to the settlement pattern, realised within the framework of the Michoacán Projects I and III, studying of all the perceptible demonstrations of the prehispanic occupations in the region.
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Previously issued in print: 2016. :
1 online resource : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781784913885 (ebook) :
Aztec Religion and Art of Writing : Investigating Embodied Meaning, Indigenous Semiotics, and the Nahua Sense of Reality /
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In her groundbreaking investigation from the perspective of the aesthetics of religion, Isabel Laack explores the religion and art of writing of the pre-Hispanic Aztecs of Mexico. Inspired by postcolonial approaches, she reveals Eurocentric biases in academic representations of Aztec cosmovision, ontology, epistemology, ritual, aesthetics, and the writing system to provide a powerful interpretation of the Nahua sense of reality. Laack transcends the concept of "sacred scripture" traditionally employed in religions studies in order to reconstruct the Indigenous semiotic theory and to reveal how Aztec pictography can express complex aspects of embodied meaning. Her study offers an innovative approach to nonphonographic semiotic systems, as created in many world cultures, and expands our understanding of human recorded visual communication. This book will be essential reading for scholars and readers interested in the history of religions, Mesoamerican studies, and the ancient civilizations of the Americas. 'This excellent book, written with intellectual courage and critical self-awareness, is a brilliant, multilayered thought experiment into the images and stories that made up the Nahua sense of reality as woven into their sensational ritual performances and colorful symbolic writing system.' - Davíd Carrasco, Harvard University
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004392014 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
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
Toniná, una ciudad maya de Chiapas : vida y muerte en las postrimerías del colapso Maya /
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Toniná was a Mayan city, located between two cultural areas near the Chiapas Highlands. It has been widely proposed that the Maya collapse implied the disappearance and depopulation of many cities; this research addresses the survival of Toniná towards the threshold of the Postclassic. For this purpose, 15,956 human bones found in Structure 15 of the fifth platform in the Acropolis of Toniná were analysed. The analysis of anthropological osteology allowed us to know the biological profile and to document the cultural taphonomy, through which the practice of human sacrifice and the posthumous treatment of the victims was evidenced. The application of stable isotope and strontium analyses also allowed us to determine the dietary profile of those sacrificed, their geographical origin and mobility throughout their lives.
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Also issued in print: 2021.
"Available in both print and Open Access"--Homepage. :
1 online resource (322 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour), maps (colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781789699296 (PDF ebook) : :
Open access.
Aquatic adaptations in Mesoamerica : subsistence activities in ethnoarchaeological perspective /
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This text explores the subsistence strategies that ancient Mesoamericans implemented to survive and thrive in their environments. It discusses the natural settings, production sites, techniques, artifacts, cultural landscapes, traditional knowledge, and other features linked to human subsistence in aquatic environments.
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Also issued in print: 2022. :
1 online resource (280 pages) : illustrations (colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9781789699128 (PDF ebook) :
Sig y análisis espacial en la arqueología de cazadores recolectores de Magallania (extremo sur de Sudamérica) /
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Magallania defines the region between the Santa Cruz river basin to the north and the Fuegian expression of the Andes to the south. It is one of the southernmost spaces in the world and the last to be occupied by humans, a process that occurred at least at the end of the Pleistocene (11,000 to 9,000 AP) and before the complete formation of the Strait of Magellan (ca. 8000 AP). Thereafter, the Strait functioned as a biogeographic barrier, creating conditions for divergent cultural evolution between the populations of the mainland and Tierra del Fuego. For this reason, the archeology of Magallania offers a unique possibility to inquire about the relationship between the environmental dynamics and the spatial organization of populations of hunter-gatherers settled on both sides of the Strait of Magellan.
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Previously issued in print: 2017. :
1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour), maps (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781784916077 (ebook) :
La industria lítica bifacial del sitio en cantera Chipana-1 : conocimiento y técnica de los grupos humanos del Desierto de Atacama, norte de Chile al final del Pleistoceno /
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The site of Chipana-1 is located in the middle of the Atacama Desert, in the Pampa del Tamarugal. The site is a good example of past societies adaptation to hyper-arid environments, and provides new insights into the early human occupations of South America. The well-preserved stratigraphic record, together with 13 radiocarbon dates, show that the site was occupied around 11,480 cal BP. Chipana-1 is a lithic raw-material extraction and workshop site, of a silicified rock of good quality, mainly related to the production of bifacial tools (façonnage), and to a lesser extent, of flakes (débitage) on surface. This is the first site in northern Chile that provides information on the first stages of lithic production, such as raw-material selection and reduction (dégrossissage).
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Previously issued in print: 2018. :
1 online resource (viii, 106 pages) : illustrations (colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781784919122 (ebook) :