Prehistoric Mesoamerica

by Richard E.W. Adams

This major revision of Richard E. W. Adams’s classic text on the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica adds new information available from archaeological fieldwork in the region from the 1990s through 2004 and also evaluates recent theories regarding the remarkable prehistoric cultures of a region that today encompasses Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. This up-to-date overview provides an introduction to Mesoamerican studies, a brief geographic sketch of the region, and a summary of the major features of its civilizations. Adams follows with a detailed examination of each period of Mesoamerican cultural history, from early prehistoric times through the rise and fall of various city-states to the ascendancy and ultimate fall of the Aztec Empire. Prehistoric Mesoamerica will be of interest to both students and scholars in the field and to general readers interested in the rich diversity of Mesoamerican art, society, politics, and intellectual achievement.

Genres: History, Anthropology, Nonfiction

521 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Rindis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a textbook from a 'high civilizations of the Americas' class I took. The fact this is one of the few textbooks I still have should say something of the value of the book right there.

It is a very solid study and overview of the factual knowledge of those civilizations that existed in present-day Mexico and Central America before the Spanish Conquest (knowledge as of 1991, of course). This entails a lot of reporting of bare-bones synthesis of archaeological data, and can get extremely hard going in places. (The chapter on the Olmec is especially hard going, as it is the first culture where there's much to say, but it's so far removed in time, saying anything concrete is a challenge.)

While Adams does a good job presenting the subject, it should be kept in mind that this is purely a scholarly work, and cannot honestly try to give a feel for anything more than the history of the field of study. For a person wanting to get delve deeper into the subject, this book is an excellent starting point as it will guide him to the major papers of the relevant experts. Also, the final chapter on the Aztecs presents them very well, but someone more interested in an cultural anthropology discussion should probably find a book devoted to that subject.

[Hannah carlock · Rating 4 out of 5]

My teacher wrote this book, I enjoyed it..