Contents
Preface
1Introduction
The geographic setting
Languages and peoples
Periods
2Early Hunters
3The Archaic Period
The Desert Culture in North America
The origins of Mexican cultivated plants
The importance of maize
Other cultigens
Caves and rockshelters of northeastern Mexico
Santa Marta rockshelter
The Tehuacan Valley
Other Archaic sites
The Archaic period and the origins of settled life
4The Preclassic Period: Early Villagers
The Early Preclassic in Chiapas
Early Preclassic villagers in Oaxaca
The site of Tlatilco
Established villages of the Middle Preclassic
Late Preclassic cultures of the central highlands
The Mezcala puzzle
The shaft-tomb art of western Mexico and the Teuchitlan Tradition
5The Preclassic Period: Early Civilizations
Background of civilized life
The Olmec civilization
The San Lorenzo Olmecs
El Manatí
The Olmecs of La Venta
Chiapa de Corzo – a La Venta outlier?
Tres Zapotes and the Long Count calendar
The Olmecs beyond the heartland
Early Zapotec civilization
Izapan civilization
La Mojarra and the Isthmian script
6The Classic Period
Rise of the great civilizations 1
The urban civilization of Teotihuacan
The Great Pyramid of Cholula
Cerro de las Mesas and Classic Veracruz civilization
Classic Monte Albán
The Classic downfall
7The Epiclassic Period
The Maya connection: Cacaxtla and Xochicalco
Cholula
Cantona
El Tajín
Central Veracruz
Valley of Oaxaca
Northwestern Mexico
The end of the Epiclassic
8The Post-Classic Period: The Toltec State
A time of troubles
The Chichimeca of northern Mexico
Tula and the Toltecs
The Toltec annals
Archaeological Tula
Tula and Chich’en Itza
9The Post-Classic Period: Rival States
Late Zapotec culture at Mitla
The Mixtecs
The Huastec
The Tarascan kingdom
Casas Grandes and the northern trade route
The rise of the Aztec state
The consolidation of Aztec power
10 The Aztecs in 1519
The island city
Aztec society
The long-distance merchants
Becoming an Aztec
Marriage
The Triple Alliance and the Empire
The emperor and the palace
Food and agriculture
War and human sacrifice
Aztec religion
Aztec art and architecture
Aztec thought and literature
Epilogue
The Spanish Conquest
New Spain and the Colonial world
The “ladinoization” of Mexico
Aftermath
Visiting Mexico
Chronological table
Reigning Monarchs of the Aztec State
Text References
Further reading
Sources of Illustrations
Index
Copyright
