An attempt to render Chinese archaeology more accessible to Western readers through a detailed case study of approximately 16,000 years of cultural development in northeastern China. The author addresses prehistoric sociopolitical processes in the Dongbei region through an analysis of both his and other researchers' field data and demonstrates the potential contribution of conducting archaeological research into anthropology-related issues in China.

Archaeology is perceived to study the people of long ago and far away. How could archaeology matter in the modern world? Well-known archaeologist Jeremy Sabloff points to ways in which archaeology might be important to the understanding and amelioration of contemporary problems. Though archaeologists have commonly been associated with efforts to uncover cultural identity, to restore the past of underrepresented peoples, and to preserve historical sites, their knowledge and skills can be used in many other ways. Archaeologists help Peruvian farmers increase crop yields, aid city planners in reducing landfills, and guide local communities in tourism development and water management. This brief volume, aimed at students and other prospective archaeologists, challenges the field to go beyond merely understanding the past and actively engage in making a difference in the today's world.

An attempt to render Chinese archaeology more accessible to Western readers through a detailed case study of approximately 16,000 years of cultural development in northeastern China. The author addresses prehistoric sociopolitical processes in the Dongbei region through an analysis of both his and other researchers' field data and demonstrates the potential contribution of conducting archaeological research into anthropology-related issues in China.

Ancient Mexico was one of the great independent hearths of civilization. Out of a varied landscape grew some of the richest cultures of the early historic world - Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Toltec, and Aztec. Standard histories tend to focus on the individual societies, but Jeremy Sabloff's popular study takes an original approach, emphasizing the unity of Mexican civilization. In a series of fascinating vignettes, Professor Sabloff describes what it would have been like to have lived during the heyday of Mexico's greatest cities. Through the eyes of astronomers and ballplayers, merchants and priests, we see the temples, palaces, and tombs of a civilization obsessed with ritual and death. But who built these cities and how do we know? Sabloff explains convincingly just why archaeologists believe in the indigenous origins of Mexican civilization. This updated edition includes the latest archaeological research on the ancient cities of Mexico: incorporates breakthroughs in the decipherment of the Maya script; and draws on fresh readings of Aztec ethnohistorical sources. Throughout the author reveals the new ideas and techniques revolutionizing archaeological fieldwork and shows how the latest evidence is being used to reconstruct a fuller picture of life in these ancient cities.

Seibal is a major ruin of the southern Maya lowlands, its vast ceremonial center covering several high hills on the banks of the Pasion River in the Guatemalan Department of Peten. In five volumes published over a 15-year period, the archaeological team headed by Gordon R. Willey presents a comprehensive review of their fieldwork from 1964 to 1968 and the results of many years of subsequent data analysis. The volumes also report on explorations in the peripheral settlements outside of the Seibal center and provide a regional view of the evolution of lowland Maya culture from the Middle and Late Preclassic through the Late Classic periods.

The sixteen-volume Handbook of Middle American Indians, completed in 1976, has been acclaimed the world over as the most valuable resource ever produced for those involved in the study of Mesoamerica. When it was determined in 1978 that the Handbook should be updated periodically, Victoria Reifler Bricker, well-known cultural anthropologist, was selected to be series editor. This first volume of the Supplement is devoted to the dramatic changes that have taken place in the field of archaeology. The volume editor, Jeremy A. Sabloff, has gathered together detailed reports from the directors of many of the most significant archaeological projects of the mid-twentieth century in Mesoamerica, along with discussions of three topics of general interest (the rise of sedentary life, the evolution of complex culture, and the rise of cities).

Cities are so common today that we cannot imagine a world without them. More than half of the world's population lives in cities, and that proportion is growing. Yet for most of our history, there were no cities. Why, how, and when did urban life begin? Ancient cities have much to tell us about the social, political, religious, and economic conditions of their times-and also about our own. Ongoing excavations all over the world are enabling scholars to document intra-city changes through time, city-to-city interaction, and changing relations between cities and their hinterlands. The essays in this volume-presented at a Sackler colloquium of the National Academy of Sciences-reveal that archaeologists now know much more about the founding and functions of ancient cities, their diverse trade networks, their heterogeneous plans and layouts, and their various lifespans and trajectories.