A prominent archaeologist uses the latest scientific techniques to interpret the spiritual lives of ancient people
Until Recently, Archaeology Was Concerned mainly with piecing together the material lives of our ancestors. In this groundbreaking book, master storyteller and respected archaeologist Brian Fagan explains how cutting-edge science can now take us beyond the artifacts -- into the mystical realm of shamans and spirit mediums, ancestor worship, and ritual sacrifice. From the Nile's black land to the Aztec's world of the Fifth Sun, from Stonehenge to Jericho, Fagan describes how Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Geographic Information Systems, Computer Automated Design-mapping and other sophisticated scientific methods are helping us to decode the religious and spiritual beliefs of our forebears. This new "archaeology of the mind" blends a wealth of scientific disciplines -- from botany, zoology, and geology to neuropsychology, palynology, and nuclear physics. With vivid imagery and a transporting voice, Fagan revolutionizes our understanding of the inner lives of ancient people.
In 1997-98, El Nino disrupted weather patterns the world over. Europe suffered a record freeze, the American West was hit by terrible floods and snowstorms, and drought brought famine to East Africa and forest fires to Southeast Asia.
In this groundbreaking work of "historical meteorology", Brian Fagan shows that these events were neither isolated nor new: El Nino has been wreaking intermittent havoc for at least five millennia. Integrating weather science, archeology, and the narrative gifts of a born storyteller, Fagan shows how dramatic shifts in climate have shaped peoples, places, and history since the dawn of time.
The topic of cannibalism continues to be emblematic of people's ideas of the "exotic other." In addition to its lingering cultural meanings, the continued interest in the topic stems in part from the history of controversy about methods, evidence, and inference patterns within anthropology and archaeology. This book looks at how and why cannibalism was actually practiced, both as part of a wider cultural system of meanings about reproduction and regeneration as well as how cannibalism as myth perpetuates political processes of stereotyping across cultures.
This catalogue describes and illustrates ten centuries of prehistoric south-western pottery, most of it from the Four Corners country, where New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona meet. The pottery shown here was collected by pioneering southwestern archaeologist Earl H. Morris (1889-1956). Since Morris's death, his collection has been housed in the University of Colorado Museum. Most of the vessels in the Morris Collection are illustrated here. While the catalogue concentrates on pieces from the area between Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde, a few pots from other regions demonstrate the variations in prehistoric pottery making in the Southwest. Morris's comments from his own catalogue of the collection are included. In addition to describing the vessels, he tells how each came into his possession -- where he found it or what he traded for it. The Listers have added information about type, size, and provenience. Originally published in 1969, this catalogue has proved its value to ar-chaeologists, collectors, and readers interested in the history of southwest-ern archaeology.