History 101 - World History: Prehistory to CE 1450 : Amy Grey

1491 @ SCC Library by Charles C. Mann Mann shows how a new generation of researchers equipped with novel scientific techniques have come to previously unheard-of conclusions about the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans.

Ancient Cuzco @ WMC Library by Brian S. Bauer The Cuzco Valley was the spiritual and administrative centre of the Inca Empire and yet, Bauer argues, it has had little archaeological study. This well-illustrated and accessible book presents the results of Brian Bauer's Cuzco Valley Archaeological Project begun in 1994. It combines survey data and detailed descriptions of sites and monuments with a synthetic discussion of the settlement history of the Valley. Supported by numerous site plans and maps, reconstruction drawings and photographs of artefacts, sites and towns, the book discusses the social hierarchy of the region, the impact of humans on its environmennt, the first settlers (9500-2200 BC), the development of the Inca state, the Coricancha sanctuary, Incan mummies and Spanish sources. An appendix contains radiocarbon dates.

Ancient Mexico and Central America @ Hopi by Susan Toby Evans Susan Evans's authoritative new book provides overviews of the best-known regional cultures, such as those of the Olmecs, Maya, Zapotecs, and Aztecs, as well as balanced coverage of Mesoamerica as a whole, encompassing within the larger story the development of regions such as West Mexico, Guerrero, the Gulf lowlands, and the northern and southern frontiers of Mesoamerica. The differing cultures are examined within a chronological framework, with reference to the latest archaeological evidence and current research. The book also traces the development, apogee, and decline of numerous sites--from La Venta and Monte Alban to Teotihuacan, Palenque, and Tenochtitlan. Major cultural themes, such as the ball game, maize cultivation, and the development of the calendar, are analyzed in thirty-three special features. Fluently written and lavishly illustrated with photographs, drawings, and newly commissioned maps, this compelling and detailed book is an invaluable guide for travelers, students, scholars,and anyone,interested in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.

The Aztecs @ SCC Library by Michael E. Smith This is a history of one of the best known peoples of pre-Columbian America. The Aztecs were the upstarts of Meso-America. Until the thirteenth century they were a little-known people practising subsistence agriculture in the north of what is now Mexico. At that time they migrated to the Valley of Mexico, and having first learnt military arts by hiring themselves as mercenaries to the Oaxacans and other established societies, promptly used these skills to subjugate their former masters, and to swallow up a succession of Meso-American kingdoms. By the time Cortes arrived they were the undisputed rulers of a large empire, which they kept subdued by regular human sacrifice and whose people they taxed to the bone (factors used by Cortes to foment rebellion).

Cahokia @ SCC Library by Timothy R. Pauketat Anthropologist Timothy R. Pauketat reveals the story of Cahokia and its people as uncovered by American archaeologists. Their excavations have revealed evidence of a powerful society, including complex celestial timepieces, the remains of feasts big enough to feed thousands, and disturbing signs of large-scale human sacrifice.

The Incas @ SCC Library by Terence N. D'Altroy The great empire of the Incas at its height encompassed an area of western South America comparable in size to the Roman Empire in Europe. This book describes and explains its extraordinary progress from a remote Andean settlement near Lake Titicaca to its rapid demise six centuries later at the hands of the Spanish conquerors. A bold new history by the world's leading expert on Incan civilization. Covers the entire Andean region, five countries and ten million people. Heavily illustrated with maps, figures, and photographs.

The Mysterious Maya @ PDC & WMC Library by George E. Stuart; Gene S. Stuart; David Harvey (Photographer); Otis Imboden (Photographer); Richard E. W. Adams (Foreword by); Donald J. Crump (Editor) An informal survey of what we know about the Mayas from their artifacts and living sites.