Ancient peoples of the American Southwest /

Ancient peoples of the American Southwest /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Plog, Stephen.
Edition:2nd ed.
Imprint:London ; [New York] : Thames & Hudson, 2008.
Description:224 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 25 cm.
Language:English
Series:Ancient peoples and places
Ancient peoples and places (Thames and Hudson)
Subject:
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- History.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- Antiquities.
Pueblo Indians -- Antiquities.
Cliff-dwellers.
Antiquities.
Cliff-dwellers.
Indians of North America.
Indians of North America -- Antiquities.
Pueblo Indians -- Antiquities.
Southwest, New -- History.
Southwest, New -- Antiquities.
Southwest, New.
History.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/7182646
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9780500286937 (pbk.)
0500286930 (pbk.)
Notes:Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-219) and index.
Summary:Most people are familiar with the famous pre-Columbian civilizations of the Aztecs and Maya of Mexico, but few realize just how advanced were contemporary cultures in the American Southwest. Here lie some of the monuments of America's prehistoric past, such as Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. Ten thousand years ago, humans first colonized this seemingly inhospitable landscape with its scorching hot deserts and upland areas that drop below freezing even during the early summer months. The initial hunter-gatherer bands gradually adapted to become sedentary village groups. The high point of Southwestern civilization was reached with the emergence of cultures known as Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollon in the first millennium AD. Interweaving the latest archaeological evidence with early first-person accounts, Stephen Plog explains the rise and mysterious fall of Southwestern cultures. For this revised edition, he discusses new research and its implications for our understanding of the prehistoric Southwest. As he concludes, the Southwest is still home to vibrant Native American communities who carry on many of the old traditions. 150 illustrations, 17 in color. --From publisher's description.
Other form:Online version: Plog, Stephen. Ancient peoples of the American Southwest. 2nd ed. London ; [New York] : Thames & Hudson, 2008
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • 1. Introduction: People and Landscape
  • The Pueblos of the north and east
  • Rancherias of the south and west
  • 'The snow and cold are unusually great': the environmental setting
  • Studying Southwestern archaeology: from Model T's to models of the past
  • 2. Paleo-Indians: Early Hunters and Gatherers 9500 to 7000 BC
  • The earliest periods: Clovis and Folsom
  • The vanishing ice age megafauna
  • 3. The Archaic: Questions of Continuity and Change 7000 BC to AD 200
  • The gathering gourmets
  • Continuity or change: examining the evidence
  • Social groups and regional networks
  • Beginning the transition to agriculture
  • The first steps toward village life
  • 4. The Rise of Village Life AD 200 to 700
  • Villages and the time lag: a millennium of change
  • Pithouses and houses in pits
  • Public buildings and collective ritual
  • More villages, more people
  • Diet, nutrition, and technological innovation
  • The emergence of Hohokam, Mogollon, and Anasazi groups
  • 5. From Village to Town: Hohokam, Mogollon, and Anasazi AD 700 to 1130
  • The Hohokam
  • The Mogollon
  • The Anasazi
  • Hohokam communities in the Phoenix Basin
  • Art and aesthetics: the Mimbres of southwestern New Mexico
  • The burgeoning Anasazi of northern Black Mesa
  • The Great Houses of Chaco Canyon
  • Universal trends in the Southwest
  • Understanding the perspective of the ancient Southwesterners
  • 6. Cliff dwellings, Cooperation, and Conflict AD 1130 to 1350
  • Emigration and oral histories
  • Regional variation and localized polities
  • Common threads but different fabrics
  • Denouement in the Four Corners region
  • 7. Towns, Mounds, and Kachinas
  • Community cycles: boom and bust in the Rio Grande Valley
  • Farming, food, and famine?
  • Warfare and defense
  • Ancestors, clouds, and kachina ritual
  • Green stones for red feathers: trade and elites in the Southwest
  • Conclusions
  • 8. From Prehistory to History
  • The transition to history in the Hohokam region
  • The transition in the Pueblo region
  • Epilogue
  • Changing protagonists: the American intrusion
  • The late 19th and 20th centuries in the Southwest
  • Map of the Southwest
  • Guide to the Southwest
  • Notes to the Text
  • Further Reading
  • Sources of Illustrations
  • Index

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