Kingdoms of gold, kingdoms of jade : the Americas before Columbus

This is a reasonable acceptable survey of the Native American cultures prior to 1492. It begins with the arrival of the Europeans and their first contacts with the Aztec and Incan cultures, and then goes back to coming of the first people from Siberia to the Americas --on which Fagan, a least at

Show More

this time, still favored the older theory of a relatively late arrival circa 10,000 BC or even later, though he briefly describes the opposing theory of earlier arrival which is now more widely accepted. He describes the early hunting cultures, then those who adapted to living chiefly by fishing and related maritime resources on the west coats of both North and South America, followed by the development of farming and especially the adoption of maize and potatoes as basic foods. After that he describes the .Mesoamerican cultures -- Olmec, Maya, Monte Alban (Zapotec), Teotihuacan and Toltec. Then, he goes over the Andean cultures, Chavin, Moche and several others (Nazca, Tiwanaku, Huari, and Chimor (what is commonly called Chimu). Lastly he briefly describes the Moundbuilders and others in North America. For me, most of the benefit of the book was its descriptions of some of the lesser known cultures; much of the Maya, Aztec and Inca material can be found elsewhere in more detail. As usual with Thames and Hudson, there are many illustrations and some useful maps of important sites.

Show Less