Browse by Subject: Anthropology and Archaeology

Please note that while you may order forthcoming books at any time, they will not be available for shipment until shortly before publication date

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The Archaeology of Smoking and Tobacco

Provides a fascinating case study to investigate the consumption of luxury goods in the pre-industrial era and the role tobacco played in an emerging capitalist world system and global economy.

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Archaeologies of Slavery and Freedom in the Caribbean: Exploring the Spaces in Between

Caribbean plantations and the forces that shaped them--slavery, sugar, capitalism, and the tropical, sometimes deadly environment--have been studied extensively. This volume turns the focus to the places and times where the rules of the plantation system did not always apply, including the interstitial spaces that linked enslaved Africans with their neighbors at other plantations.

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Handbook of Ceramic Animal Symbols in the Ancient Lesser Antilles

In this volume, Lawrence Waldron focuses on the cultural significance of nearly two dozen animal and bird representations found in Saladoid-era ceramics, surveying zoomorphic iconography in over twenty major collections.

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Perspectives on the Ancient Maya of Chetumal Bay

Focusing on sites ringing the bay such as Cerro Maya, Oxtankah, and Santa Rita Corozal, the contributors to this volume explore how the bay and its feeder rivers affected all aspects of Maya culture from settlement, food production, and the production and use of special goods to political relationships and social organization.

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The Casma City of El Purgatorio: Ancient Urbanism in the Andes

A culmination of Vogel's sixteen-year study of Casma culture, this book helps us understand the relationships between polities of the ancient world, how they built connections to other towns or cities outside and within their own boundaries, and demonstrates the importance of cities and urbanism in the development and collapse of complex societies.

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Cuban Archaeology in the Caribbean

In this volume, Ivan Roksandic and an international team of researchers trace population movement throughout the Caribbean, specifically to Cuba. Through analysis of early agriculture, burial customs, dental modification, pottery production, dietary patterns, and more, they present a new theory of mainland migration to Cuba and the Greater Antilles.

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Beyond the Nasca Lines: Ancient Life at La Tiza in the Peruvian Desert

In this volume, Christina Conlee documents the cyclical rise and fall of societies in the region, with particular focus on the development of the Nasca culture, its subsequent conquest by the Wari state, followed by collapse and abandonment, and then the establishment of a new society in the Late Intermediate Period.

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Charleston: An Archaeology of Life in a Coastal Community

In Charleston, Zierden and Reitz weave archaeology and history to illuminate this vibrant, densely packed Atlantic port city. They detail the residential, commercial, and public life of the city, the ruins of taverns, markets, and townhouses, including those of Thomas Heyward, shipping merchant Nathaniel Russell, and William Aiken.

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The Maritime Landscape of the Isthmus of Panamá

Assessing sites both submerged and on land, the authors explore the maritime history of the isthmus through its many stages: from its prehistoric period through Spanish colonialism to the building of the canal and its function as a route for modern-day maritime traffic.

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Ritual and Archaic States

Ritual and archaic states frequently ignite complex debates about their defining characteristics and archaeological signatures. Offering fresh perspectives on both subjects, this volume unites the two streams of scholarship and explores the varying nature, expression, and significance of ritual in archaic states.