pre-Columbian Research Articles

Dana Leibsohn. Review of "Pre-Columbian Art" by Esther Pasztory.

Dana Leibsohn. Review of "Pre-Columbian Art" by Esther Pasztory.

Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History

Modern historiography has not fully appreciated the ecological complexity of the Silk Roads. As a result, it has failed to under stand their antiquity, or to grasp their full importance in Eurasian his tory. The role played by the Silk Roads in exchanging goods, tech nologies, and ideas between regions of agrarian civilization is well understood. Less well understood is the trans-ecological role of the Silk Roads?the fact that they also exchanged goods and ideas between the pastoralist and agrarian worlds. The second of these systems of exchange, though less well known, predated the more familiar trans civilizational exchanges, and was equally integral to the functioning of the entire system. A clear awareness of this system of trans-ecolog ical exchanges should force us to revise our understanding of the age, the significance, and the geography of the Silk Roads. Further, an appreciation of the double role of the Silk Roads affects our understanding of the history of the entire Afro-Eurasian region. The many trans-ecological exchanges mediated by the Silk Roads linked all regions of the Afro-Eurasian landmass, from its agrarian civ ilizations to its many stateless communities of woodland foragers and steppe pastoralists, into a single system of exchanges that is several mil lennia old. As a result, despite its great diversity, the history of Afro Eurasia has always preserved an underlying unity, which was expressed in common technologies, styles, cultures, and religions, even disease patterns. The extent of this unity can best be appreciated by contrast ing the history of Afro-Eurasia with that of pre-Columbian America. World historians are becoming increasingly aware of the underly ing unity of Afro-Eurasian history. Andre Gunder Frank and Barry

Mitochondrial DNA and the Peopling of the New World

On the eve of Christopher Columbus's arrival on San Salvador (now part of the Bahamas) in 1492, there were perhaps several tens of millions of people inhabiting the Americas. Once it became evident that the inhabitants of this New World were not, in fact, East Indians (as Columbus had at first supposed), the existence of the Native American population became a huge puzzle to the Renaissance Europeans. Just who were these people across the ocean, and where did they come from? Various theories were proposed in the centuries that followed, including the notion that the Native Americans (now often called Amerindians) were the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. Some scholars even attempted to draw parallels between the Amerindians and the contemporary European Jews of the era. It was not until the 18th century that scholars hit on the notion, now well established, that the Amerindians originated on the Asian continent. (Recent claims—including the putative Caucasian characteristics of the Kennewick skeleton—that European stock may have been present in pre-Columbian America do not deny the overwhelming contribution of Asiatic peoples to the ancestry of modern Amerindians.)

New Evidences for Old?: Buyer Beware

Book Review| January 01 2000 New Evidences for Old?: Buyer Beware New Evidences of Christ in Ancient America, Blaine M. Yorgason, Bruce W. Warren and Harold Brown. Andrew J. McDonald Andrew J. McDonald Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google FARMS Review of Books (2000) 12 (2000) (2): 101–117. https://doi.org/10.2307/44797072 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Andrew J. McDonald; New Evidences for Old?: Buyer Beware. FARMS Review of Books 1 January 2000; 12 (2000) (2): 101–117. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/44797072 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressMormon Studies Review Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2000 Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies at Brigham Young University2000 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Vegetable Uses of Maize (Corn) in Pre-Columbian America

Maize (Zea mays L.) was an important vegetable throughout the Americas in pre-Columbian times. It may have been particularly important for people in temperate zones, where the selection of cultivated vegetables was relatively limited. In this review I shall use the term “corn” rather than maize, given that corn is used in the older literature upon which this review is based. My objective in this review is to focus on vegetable uses; however, some grain uses will also be discussed because the distinctions are somewhat arbitrary. Corn, when grown for grain, is one of the most efficient crop plants in terms of calorie production. Because the grain may be stored for long periods, corn was (and is) the primary source of food energy for most of the major civilizations in the Western Hemisphere. In addition to an energy source, corn has been used as a vegetable by all these civilizations. For the purposes of this paper, I define vegetable as any plant part, usually high in moisture when consumed, that usually undergoes minimal processing beyond cooking. In contrast, a grain is a seed or seedlike fruit that is dried to low moisture for storage and usually processed before consumption. Processing of grains frequently results in a product that is unrecognizable as the original plant part.

Epilepsy and its treatment in the ancient cultures of America.

Epilepsy was a well-recognized disease in pre-Columbian America, as appears from the reports of the Spanish chroniclers of the sixteenth century. Both the Aztecs and the Incas strongly associated epilepsy with magic and religion, which is evident from their ideas about the pathogenesis and treatment of the disease. Apart from treatment of epilepsy by magic means, the Incas and especially the Aztecs used in addition a large number of botanic medicines; the use of these medicines probably had an empiric nature.

Imagined empires: Incas, Aztecs, and the new world of American literature, 1771-1876

Introduction: ancient America in the postcolonial national imaginary 1. Commencements: pre-Columbian worlds and Philip Freneau's literature of American empire 2. Diplomacy: Joel Barlow's scripting and subscripting of ancient America 3. Noctography: Prescott's sketchings of Aztecs and Incas 4. Mutations: Melville, representation, and South American history 5. Passage: two rivulets and the obscurity of American maps.

PIXE analysis and fission track dating of obsidian from South American prehispanic cultures (Colombia, Ecuador)

In the present work we have coupled PIXE with fission track dating to characterise obsidian artefacts from about 40 archaeological sites of Colombia and Ecuador. PIXE analysis, carried out with the external beam line of the AGLAE tandem accelerator, yields the content in about 15 elements with Z>8, whereas fission track dating is applied to ages in excess of about 10000 years. About 120 artefacts were investigated by PIXE, of which 50 were dated by fission tracks. Ages and compositions were compared to those of obsidians from all known geological sources of the region. We show that this double characterisation allows us to determine the number of obsidian sources exploited in an ancient past and to give some insight into obsidian circulation.

Art and Archaeology of Pre‐Columbian Cuba

Art and Archaeology of Pre‐Columbian Cuba. Ramón Dacal Moure and Manuel Rivero de Lacalle. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996. xxiv +134 pp., 17 color and 102 b/w photographs, bibliography. $35.00

Pre-Columbian Contact With Americas Across the Oceans: an Annotated Bibliography.

Pre-Columbian Contact With Americas Across the Oceans: an Annotated Bibliography.

Heat and moisture dynamics in raised field systems of the lake Titicaca region (Bolivia)

Pre-Hispanic cultures constructed more than 82 000 ha of raised fields for agricultural production in the Lake Titicaca Region, in the current day Bolivia and Peru. Raised fields consist of platforms (up to 1.2 m high and 2–20 m wide), elevated relative to the original soil surface and surrounded by canals (1.6–4.5 m wide). In the last decade, archaeologists have promoted the adoption of raised fields among local farmers as a way to reduce potato ( Solanum tuberosum) crop damage caused by mid-growing season frosts in the Altiplano (3800–4000 m above sea level). The objective of the present research was to obtain experimental information on a number of processes that might contribute to the frost mitigation effect. Field experiments were conducted at two sites in the Bolivian Altiplano. Temperature and moisture measurements were made in plots where potato crops were grown. Minimum temperatures during clear nights with fairly calm wind conditions were about 1°C higher at 50 cm above the soil surface in the middle of raised field platforms compared to adjacent flat fields, confirming earlier reports. Differences in minimum temperatures tended to increase with wider canals, whereas a change of platform width from 4 to 6 m had no appreciable effect. Temperature and moisture distributions in platform/canal cross sections suggest that the frost mitigation effect is due mostly to above-ground processes. Specifically, air circulation from canal to platforms, arising from natural convection, and cold air drainage back to the canals satisfactorily account for observed temperature differences. These results should prove useful in the design of raised fields and of physical process-based models to simulate the frost mitigation effect.

Naipes (axe moneys): a pre-Hispanic currency in Peru

Naipes (axe moneys): a pre-Hispanic currency in Peru

Scanning RBS-PIXE study of ancient artifacts from South America using a microbeam

Pre-Hispanic goldsmiths developed original techniques to manufacture and to gild ornaments and artifacts. Gold metallurgy in ancient America was mainly a surface technology. Surface studies of artifacts from various regions of pre-Hispanic South America were carried out using a 2 MeV proton microbeam (10 μm diameter). Several regions of the artifacts were scanned: RBS and PIXE were used simultaneously to determine the elemental composition and to characterize the homogeneity in depth and at the surface. Complementary information is provided from previous analyses using a macrobeam. Outstanding aspects about the metallurgical processes involved in the gilding of the artifacts have been established.

American Education: A History

@contents:Preface 1. Education in Precolonial America: Native American Cultural Traditions 2. Colonization and Cultural Transplantation: 1607-1776 3. Education and the Building of a New Nation: 1776-1830 4. The Common Man and the Common School: 1820-1860 5. Class, Caste, and Education in the South: 1800-1900 6. Beginning a Modern School System: 1865-1890 7. Organizing the Modern School System: Educational Reform in the Progressive Era, 1890-1915 8. Completing the Modern School System: American Education, 1915-1929 9. The Effects of Depression and War on American Education: 1930-1946 10. Education during and after the Crucial Decade: 1945-1960 11. The Pursuit of Equality: 1960-1980 12. From Equality to Excellence: American Education: 1980-2004 Index

PreColumbian agriculture and forest disturbance in Costa Rica: palaeoecological evidence from two lowland rainforest lakes

Lake-sediment cores from Laguna Bonilla and Laguna Bonillita provide some of the first evidence of prehistoric human impacts on lowland rainforests in Costa Rica. The longer Bonillita sediment record docu ments permanent settlement of the lake shores by 2560 BP, about 600 years earlier than previously inferred from the archaeological record. Zea pollen and charcoal fragments in cores from both lakes indicate a subsist ence strategy that included maize cultivation and some use of fire. A dramatic decline in Myrsine pollen percentages about 1300 BP suggests local eradication of this woody plant, likely as a result of land clearance and/or the use of Myrsine for construction.

The Pre-Columbian

The Pre-Columbian

Aesthetics and Pre-Columbian Art

Aesthetics and Pre-Columbian Art

Evidence of a pre-Columbian Map of America

Evidence of a pre-Columbian Map of America

Lost cities of the ancient southeast

When Columbus arrived on the shores of Hispaniola, a rich and complex civilisation already existed that forms the core of American cultural history. Exploring ancient southeastern Indian sites from the metropolis of Cahokia (near present-day St Louis), ancient capital of the American heartland, to the island stronghold of Calos - king of the Florida Calusa - the author examines the significance of these prehistoric cultures. Bringing together scholarship from classics in architecture, archaeology and iconography, she discusses 20 sites of Mississippian culture, describing the religious patterns of the inhabitants and the sophisticated art-works that supported their sacred practices. She also addresses the controversial topic of repatriation of Indian artifacts and the continuing problem of archaeological looting of Indian sites and ceremonial centres. Illustrated with maps, site plans and photographs of the ruins of ancient ceremonial centres along with sculpture, ceramics and other artifacts, this book aims to captures the timeless beauty and technical sophistication of the art and architecture of pre-Columbian America.

Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida

Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida