A fascinating exploration of the incredible and improbable history of our relationship with cats from fearsome foe to purring pet, written by leading anthropologist, Jerry Moore.Feared, revered, respected, and beloved, cats have left an indelible paw print on the histories and civilizations of humankind. Over the last two million years, cats and people have interacted in diverse and unexpected ways, but the predecessors of today's furry friends were predators, not ...

A Prehistory of South America is an overview of the ancient and historic native cultures of the entire continent of South America based on the most recent archaeological investigations. This accessible, clearly written text is designed to engage undergraduate and beginning graduate students in anthropology.For more than 12,000 years, South American cultures ranged from mobile hunters and gatherers to rulers and residents of colossal cities. In the process, native South Ame...

Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists, Fifth Edition, has been updated and expanded and provides a succinct, clear, and balanced introduction to theoretical developments in the field. The key ideas of thirty major theorists are briefly described and—unique to this textbook—linked to the biographical and fieldwork experiences that helped shape their theories. The impact of each scholar on contemporary anthropology is presented, along with numerous exa...

Many animals build shelters, but only humans build homes. No other species creates such a variety of dwellings. Drawing examples from across the archaeological record and around the world, archaeologist Jerry D. Moore recounts the cultural development of the uniquely human imperative to maintain domestic dwellings. He shows how our houses allow us to physically adapt to the environment and conceptually order the cosmos, and explains how we fabricate dwellings and, in the process, construct...

In Incidence of Travel, archaeologist Jerry Moore draws on his personal experiences and historical and archaeological studies throughout South America to explore and understand the ways traditional peoples created cultural landscapes in the region. Using new narrative structures, Moore introduces readers to numerous archaeological sites and remains, describing what it is like to be in the field and sparking further reflection on what these places might have been like in the past.

Visions of Culture: A Reader, Second Edition, has been revised and expanded with new selections and is coordinated for use with Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists, Fifth Edition. Each selection is prefaced with a brief introduction about the anthropologist and the text. Each primary text is followed by a section titled “Queries and Connections,” a series of questions designed to help students focus on the central issues in each text and to relate ...

Performances in the premodern communities shaped identities, created meanings, generated and maintained political control. But unlike other social scientists, archaeologists have not worked much with these concepts. Archaeology of Performance shows how the notions of theatricality and spectacle are as important economics and politics in understanding how ancient communities work. Without sacrificing conceptual rigor, the contributors draw on the wide-ranging literature on performance. With...

Feared, revered, respected, and beloved, cats have left an indelible paw print on the histories and civilizations of humankind. Over the last two million years, cats and people have interacted in diverse and unexpected ways, but the predecessors of today's furry friends were predators, not pets.Leading anthropologist Jerry Moore charts the cat's path from deadly enemy to improbable roommate. Moore journeys through our complicated history with these charismatic creatures. He travels...

When the Maya kings of Tikal dedicated their first carved monuments in the third century A.D., inaugurating the Classic period of Maya history that lasted for six centuries and saw the rise of such famous cities as Palenque, Copan and Yaxchilan, Maya civilization was already nearly a millennium old. Its first cities, such as Nakbe and El Mirador, had some of the largest temples ever raised in Prehispanic America, while others such as Cival showed even earlier evidence of complex rituals. T...

The flood of archaeological work in Maya lands has revolutionized our understanding of gender in ancient Maya society. The dozen contributors to this volume use a wide range of methodological strategies-archaeology, bioarchaeology, iconography, ethnohistory, epigraphy, ethnography-to tease out the details of the lives, actions, and identities of women of Mesoamerica. The chapters, most based upon recent fieldwork in Central America, examine the role of women in Maya society, their place in...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492—from “a remarkably engaging writer” (The New York Times Book Review).Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the lan...

As portals to the supernatural realm that creates and animates the universe, caves have always been held sacred by the peoples of Mesoamerica. From ancient times to the present, Mesoamericans have made pilgrimages to caves for ceremonies ranging from rituals of passage to petitions for rain and a plentiful harvest. So important were caves to the pre-Hispanic peoples that they are mentioned in Maya hieroglyphic writing and portrayed in the Central Mexican and Oaxacan pictorial codices. Many...