Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2017 -

Understandings of the great empires of the past are distilled through the lens of the present and rendered through the relative safety of archaeological and historical distance. Where Mesoamerica is concerned, morbid fascination with the brutal rise and catastrophic fall of the Aztec Empire has left many to obsess over the sanguinary sacrificial rites that once dominated the elite civic-ceremonial center of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. As such, Mesoamerican scholars rarely venture beyond the heart of empire in recounting the story of a truly great people. Anthropologist Smith (Arizona State) has famously succeeded in doing precisely that by humanizing the story of the very peoples and communities that lived in the shadow of the pyramids. Smith is one of the preeminent authorities and archaeologists of the Aztec, and his compassionate rendition in this instance is a welcome contribution. In this eminently readable, engaging account, he weaves a wondrous archaeological tapestry of the unsung heroes and prosperous peasant communities whose resilience, determination, and cultural knowledge stand in stark contrast to the myths and misgivings that today cloud the interpretation of thousands of years of Mesoamerican civilization and civility.Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries.

This important and timely collection of essays greatly expands understanding of the Indigenous peoples of Cuba prior to the arrival of Europeans. Until recently, archaeological studies of the these peoples have been sorely lacking, which is surprising given Cuba's large size and prominent role in the peopling of the Caribbean. The studies shine new light on longstanding questions about human migration into the islands, Indigenous settlement patterns, and regional interactions. Many of the studies apply advanced archaeological techniques to address questions about the fertility, mortality, diet, and mortuary practices of the precontact peoples of Cuba. The evidence for dental modifications is particularly intriguing. While the essays address major archaeological sites in Cuba, they do not limit themselves to site-specific analysis. One of the volume's strengths is its ability to place Cuban sites within a regional sphere that includes mainland areas of Yucatan and Central America. Perhaps the most provocative arguments draw on linguistic and stable isotopic evidence to suggest a Nicaraguan homeland for the first Indigenous Cuban. A must read for Caribbean archaeologists and archaeologists working in islands.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.

Cosminsky (emer., anthropology, Rutgers Univ., Camden) is world renowned as a founder of the anthropology of midwifery and birth. This culmination of her research on midwifery practices in rural Maya/mestizo communities in Guatemala since the 1970s has the potential to become required reading in ethnomedicine and its subfields. The book draws from and is informed by Cosminsky's decades of experience working in the same finca (plantation) community in Guatemala; her recognized expertise in traditional midwifery practices there and in Africa and Asia; and her rigorous, informed, and empathetic ethnographic documentation, explication, and analysis of nearly extinct traditional midwifery practices. The author skillfully and elegantly imparts ethnographic data collected on the lived experiences and culturally situated midwifery practices of a mother and daughter living on Finca San Luis, a sugar and coffee plantation and home to a mixed Mayan/Ladino community. Cosminsky presents how women's bodies have become contested terrain in the negotiation between culturally and socially appropriate traditional midwifery practices and Western biomedical models and practices (imported via the World Health Organization) that are often introduced and instituted without regard for the preferences or financial resources of the mother and her family members. Abundant endnotes and appendixes provide useful supplementary information.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.

This important book is a massive English summary of the work re-creating 10,000 years of human habitation of the Nasca area that the Italians and their Peruvian colleagues have been excavating since 1982, with 26 technical and synthetic chapters on a wide variety of research from 33 field seasons up to 2015 (work continues today). Project director Orefici is the author or coauthor of 12 of the chapters; his two co-directors (Masini, Lasaponara) contribute to seven other chapters, with only seven chapters by experts outside the project hierarchy. Chapters cover geology, previous research history, bioarchaeological research, paleoethnobotany, ceramic sequence, re-creation of religions from images and structures, urban architecture, petroglyph analysis, geoglyph analysis, puquio origins, musicological study of panpipes, textile configurations, remote sensing, archaeogeophysics, satellite remote sensing, electrical resistivity tomography, synthetic aperture radar, and much more. The chapters summarize archaeological prospection, discoveries, and site reconstruction, with a major focus on Cahuachi. This volume must be on the shelves of every archaeologist working in Peru and in every research library covering the origins of pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas. Each chapter is illustrated with polychrome photos and supported by its own bibliography.Summing Up: Essential. All academic levels/libraries.

Art historian Christenson (BYU) is best known for his new critical translation of the K'iche' Maya book Popol Vuh (2007). In this work, he turns to the Tz'utujil Maya of highland Guatemala, the town of Santiago Atitlan, and the cult of the revered, controversial deity called Maximon. That cult has been at the center of several other works from this region of Guatemala. Christenson's, however, is the most comprehensive treatment yet attempted. Maximon is a god who rises to rule the world each year during the days of Holy Week when Jesus Christ is dead and not yet risen again. Half the book presents a rich and engaging description of the day-by-day progression of the worship of Maximon during Easter week. Half the book examines more broadly pre-conquest and colonial Maya traditions of world renewal during end-of-year festivities. Christenson argues convincingly that the Maximon tradition recapitulates pre-conquest Maya beliefs that during the colonial period found a proper place for their expression in Christians' annual celebration of the death and resurrection of their Lord. An important new contribution to the general study of enduring, ancient Maya traditions adapted to serve in modern times.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.