This volume illuminates human lifeways in the northern Maya lowlands prior to the rise of Chichén Itzá. This period and area have been poorly understood on their own terms, obscured by scholarly focus on the central lowland Maya kingdoms. Before Kukulkán is anchored in three decades of interdisciplinary research at the Classic Maya capital of Yaxuná, located at a contentious crossroads of the northern Maya lowlands. Using bioarchaeology, mortuary archaeology, and culturally sensitive mainstream archaeology, the authors create an in-depth regional understanding while also laying out broader ways of learning about the Maya past. Part 1 examines ancient lifeways among the Maya at Yaxuná, while part 2 explores different meanings of dying and cycling at the settlement and beyond: ancestral practices, royal entombment and desecration, and human sacrifice. The authors close with a discussion of the last years of occupation at Yaxuná and the role of Chichén Itzá in the abandonment of this urban center. Before Kukulkán provides a cohesive synthesis of the evolving roles and collective identities of locals and foreigners at the settlement and their involvement in the region’s trajectory. Theoretically informed and contextualized discussions offer unique glimpses of everyday life and death in the socially fluid Maya city. These findings, in conjunction with other documented series of skeletal remains from this region, provide a nuanced picture of the social and biocultural dynamics that operated successfully for centuries before the arrival of the Itzá.
A Masterful blend of archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, and lively personal reportage, Maya Comos tells a constellation of stories, from the historical to the mythological, and envokes the awesome power of one of the richest civilizations ever to grace the earth.
Bringing a towering, controversial figure to life, this landmark work by preeminent historian David Cannadine offers the first biography of Andrew Mellon, the American colossus who bestrode the worlds of industry, government, and philanthropy as no one had ever quite done before.
“Fascinating and deeply disturbing. I love this book. — Simon Winchester (bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman) David M. Friedman’s The Immortalists reads like riveting historical fiction but raises provocative questions about the shape of the future. — Ron Rosenbaum, best-selling author of The Shakespeare Wars and Explaining Hitler “Difficult to put down...this is the book to read.” — New York Times
An in-depth discussion of the latest archeological findings about the Mayan civilization explores the sophistication of this long-misunderstood culture and addressing such issues as why the civilization disappeared, why they built cities in jungles, and more.
In einer brillanten tour de force beweist der bekannte Computer-Wissenschaftler David Harel bestechend logisch, dass selbst die leistungsstärksten Computer der Welt nicht alles können und niemals können werden. Eine provokative, mit Überraschungen gewürzte Botschaft, die uns an die Grenzen allen Wissens führt.
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