Description: The ancient site of Xochicalco is located in the state of Morelos in the southern reaches of the central Mexican mountain range. Two hundred years ago it was the first archaeological site in Mexico to be "scientifically" described, but archaeologists have since disagreed on practically every aspect of its history and function. It has been characterized as a Maya colony, a commercial entrept controlling interregional trade routes, a religious shrine and pilgrimage center for the cult of Quetzalcoatal, and even the location of Tamoanchan, the paradise of Nahuatl mythology. Seeking answers, the Xochicalco Mapping Project was initiated in 1978. Specific goals were to locate the site's physical boundaries and identify itsresidential area; map and establish the size of Xochicalco during its major developmental periods; analyze the site's residential and public architecture to provide clues for sociopolitical organization; and obtain data for insight into Xochicalco's role in the regional evolution of social, economic, and political systems.. The two volumes in this series present data and analysis from twenty years of research. Volume 1 offers a specific analysis of Xochicalco urban development plus a synthetic treatment of culture process in central Mexico. Volume 2 includes descriptive and synthetic contributions. It contains much of the data referred to in volume 1, though primarily in summary form. Together the volumes are an important step in documenting central Mexican prehistory.
Archaeological sites throughout southern Illinois provide a chronicle of change, of the varying ways people have lived in that area over the past 10,000 years. One of the richest and most environmentally diverse sites (low uplands, lakes, swamps, the Saline River, the Shawnee Hills) in southern Illinois is located approximately two miles south of Carrier Mills. This book focuses on the results of a five-year archaeological investigation at three sites located in a 143-acre area known as the Carrier Mills Archaeological District.
This area, rich in archaeological treasures and keys to the prehistoric people of southern Illinois, is also coal mining territory. In cooperation with Peabody Coal Company, archaeologists in this study have sought to learn the ages of the various prehistoric occupations represented at the sites; to better understand the technology and social organization of these prehistoric people; to better understand the environment; to collect information about diet, health, and physical characteristics of the prehistoric inhabitants; and to investigate the remains of the 19th-century Lakeview settlement.
Description: Classic site reports establish the Mogollon on their own cultural track distinct from the Anasazi and also document the earliest known association of tree-ring dates with pottery in the Southwest.
