Archaeologists seldom study ancient art, even though art is fundamental to the human experience. The Archaeology of Art in the American Southwest argues that archaeologists should study ancient artifacts as artwork, as applying the term 'art' to the past raises new questions about artists, audiences, and the works of art themselves. Munson proposes that studies of ancient artwork be based on standard archaeological approaches to material culture, framed by theoretical insights of disciplines such as art history, visual studies, and psychology. Using examples drawn from the American Southwest, The Archaeology of Art in the American Southwest discusses artistic practice in ancestral Pueblo and Mimbres ceramics and the implications of context and accessibility for the audiences of painted murals and rock art. Studies of Hohokam figurines and rock art illustrate methods for studying ancient images, while the aesthetics of ancient art are suggested by work on ceramics and kivas from Chaco Canyon. This book will be of interest to archaeologists working in the Southwest who want to broaden their perspective on the past. It will also appeal to archaeologists in other parts of the world and to anthropologists, art historians, and those who are intrigued by the material world, aesthetics, and the visual.

Comparative Archaeologies scrutinises current thinking on the dynamics and historical trajectories of complex societies in the American Southwest (AD 900-1600) and the Iberian Peninsula (3000-1500 BC) through a focused comparison of five themes: Histories, Landscapes, Bodies, Gender, and Art. Leading archaeologists from North America and Europe - drawing on diverse intellectual traditions - engage in this innovative form of comparative archaeology which recognizes both the historicities of past societies of similar forms and the social embeddedness of archaeological practice and theory.

In Art in the Pre-Hispanic Southwest: An Archaeology of Native American Cultures, Radosław Palonka reconstructs the development of pre-Hispanic Native American cultures and tribes in the American Southwest and Mexican Northwest. Palonka also examines the wider context through the lenses of settlement studies and social transformation, while paying close attention to the material manifestations of pre-Hispanic beliefs, including intricately decorated ceramics and rock art iconography in paintings and petroglyphs.

First Published in 1978. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The standard work on lost New Mexico civilization's extraordinary craft. Stunning photos.

The American Southwest is one of the most important archaeological regions in the world, with many of the best-studied examples of hunter-gatherer and village-based societies. Research has been carried out in the region for well over a century, and during this time the Southwest has repeatedly stood at the forefront of the development of new archaeological methods and theories. Moreover, research in the Southwest has long been a key site of collaboration between archaeologists, ethnographers, historians, linguists, biological anthropologists, and indigenous intellectuals. This volume marks the most ambitious effort to take stock of the empirical evidence, theoretical orientations, and historical reconstructions of the American Southwest. Over seventy top scholars have joined forces to produce an unparalleled survey of state of archaeological knowledge in the region. Themed chapters on particular methods and theories are accompanied by comprehensive overviews of the culture histories of particular archaeological sequences, from the initial Paleoindian occupation, to the rise of a major ritual center in Chaco Canyon, to the onset of the Spanish and American imperial projects. The result is an essential volume for any researcher working in the region as well as any archaeologist looking to take the pulse of contemporary trends in this key research tradition.

Highlighting one of the Peabody Museum's most important archaeological expeditions—the excavation of the Swarts Ranch Ruin in southwestern New Mexico by Harriet and Burton Cosgrove in the mid-1920s—Steven LeBlanc's book features rare, never-before-published examples of Mimbres painted pottery, considered by many scholars to be the most unique of all the ancient art traditions of North America. Made between A.D. 1000 and 1150, these pottery bowls and jars depict birds, fish, insects, and mammals that the Mimbres encountered in their daily lives, portray mythical beings, and show humans participating in both ritual and everyday activities. LeBlanc traces the origins of the Mimbres people and what became of them, and he explores our present understanding of what the images mean and what scholars have learned about the Mimbres people in the 75 years since the Cosgroves' expedition.

A key to the interpretation of rock art of the American Southwest, providing descriptions and illustrations of rock art symbols, along with their ascribed meanings, and including general and specific information on rock art sites.

How did agriculture come about in the American Southwest? What environmental and social factors led to the cultivation of plants? How, in turn, did the use of these new agricultural products affect the ancient peoples living in the region? In pursuit of answers to these questions, Barbara Roth synthesizes data from both CRM and academic research to explore the emergence and impact of Southwestern agriculture. Roth examines agricultural beginnings across the entire Southwest, both northern and southern, and across culture groups residing there. Beyond simply addressing the arrival and widespread adoption of specific cultigens, she pays particular attention to human factors such as patterns of production andvariability in agricultural developments. Her consideration of broad social and environmental dynamics affecting forager diets and adaptive strategies sheds new light on what we know—and what we should ask—about the transition fromforaging to farming.