ABSTRACT

This pioneering and comprehensive survey is the first overview of current themes in Latin American archaeology written solely by academics native to the region, and it makes their collected expertise available to an English-speaking audience for the first time.
The contributors cover the most significant issues in the archaeology of Latin America, such as the domestication of camelids, the emergence of urban society in Mesoamerica, the frontier of the Inca empire, and the relatively little known archaeology of the Amazon basin.
This book draws together key areas of research in Latin American archaeological thought into a coherent whole; no other volume on this area has ever dealt with such a diverse range of subjects, and some of the countries examined have never before been the subject of a regional study.

chapter 1|13 pages

Introduction

part |1 pages

Part 1 History and theory

part |1 pages

Part Two Key issues in Latin American archaeology

part |1 pages

Part Three New directions

chapter 10|34 pages

The archaeological culture of San Agustin

chapter 12|16 pages

Pre-Columbian metallurgy and social change

chapter 13|14 pages

Archaeology and historical multivocality