The Flocks of the Wamani: A Study of Llama Herders on the Punas of Ayacucho, Peru

In this volume, the authors present an original ethnographic study of five llama herding communities in Ayacucho, Peru. Data on herd dynamics are subjected to computer modeling in an effort to evaluate the roles of biology, symbolic and ritual behavior, ecological adaptation, and practical reason. The book contains the most detailed study of the waytakuy llama marking ceremony yet available. The role of this ceremony in preventing herds from going to extinction is evaluated against anthropological and sociobiological theory. This is an interdisciplinary book will appeal to professional archaeologists, prehistorians, cultural anthropologists, Andeanists, theoretical biologists, evolutionary biologists, and zoologists interested in animal domestication.

Politics & Social Sciences

Marcus, Joyce

Reynolds, Robert G.

FLANNERY, Kent V.

Anthropology

Academic Pr

In this volume, the authors present an original ethnographic study of five llama herding communities in Ayacucho, Peru. Data on herd dynamics are subjected to computer modeling in an effort to evaluate the roles of biology, symbolic and ritual behavior, ecological adaptation, and practical reason. The book contains the most detailed study of the waytakuy llama marking ceremony yet available. The role of this ceremony in preventing herds from going to extinction is evaluated against anthropological and sociobiological theory. This is an interdisciplinary book will appeal to professional archaeologists, prehistorians, cultural anthropologists, Andeanists, theoretical biologists, evolutionary biologists, and zoologists interested in animal domestication.

Reference

Emerald Group Pub Ltd

"Important new synthesis of the Paleoindian through classic periods. Develops an action theory framework to explain formation of the first Zapotec State and the founding and growth of Monte Albâan. Written in an accessible style and exceptionally well illustrated with drawings and photographs (some color) on glossy paper"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.http://www.loc.gov/hlas/

Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico's Oaxaca Valley (New Aspects of Antiquity)

History

Americas

Thames&Hudson

Our early ancestors lived in small groups and worked actively to preserve social equality. As they created larger societies, however, inequality rose, and by 2500 bce truly egalitarian societies were on the wane. In The Creation of Inequality, Kent Flannery and Joyce Marcus demonstrate that this development was not simply the result of population increase, food surplus, or the accumulation of valuables. Instead, inequality resulted from conscious manipulation of the unique social logic that lies at the core of every human group. 
 A few societies allowed talented and ambitious individuals to rise in prestige while still preventing them from becoming a hereditary elite. But many others made high rank hereditary, by manipulating debts, genealogies, and sacred lore. At certain moments in history, intense competition among leaders of high rank gave rise to despotic kingdoms and empires in the Near East, Egypt, Africa, Mexico, Peru, and the Pacific. 
 Drawing on their vast knowledge of both living and prehistoric social groups, Flannery and Marcus describe the changes in logic that create larger and more hierarchical societies, and they argue persuasively that many kinds of inequality can be overcome by reversing these changes, rather than by violence.

The Creation of Inequality: How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire

Flannery, Kent

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Harvard University Press

Our early ancestors lived in small groups and worked actively to preserve social equality. As they created larger societies, however, inequality rose, and by 2500 bce truly egalitarian societies were on the wane. In The Creation of Inequality, Kent Flannery and Joyce Marcus demonstrate that this development was not simply the result of population increase, food surplus, or the accumulation of valuables. Instead, inequality resulted from conscious manipulation of the unique social logic that lies at the core of every human group. 
A few societies allowed talented and ambitious individuals to rise in prestige while still preventing them from becoming a hereditary elite. But many others made high rank hereditary, by manipulating debts, genealogies, and sacred lore. At certain moments in history, intense competition among leaders of high rank gave rise to despotic kingdoms and empires in the Near East, Egypt, Africa, Mexico, Peru, and the Pacific. 
Drawing on their vast knowledge of both living and prehistoric social groups, Flannery and Marcus describe the changes in logic that create larger and more hierarchical societies, and they argue persuasively that many kinds of inequality can be overcome by reversing these changes, rather than by violence.

This is an anthropological study of the role of hieroglyphic writing in the prehispanic Aztec, Mixtec, Zapotec, and Maya states. First, Joyce Marcus compares the four systems with regard to eight major themes: calendrics, the naming of nobles, the naming of places, royal marriages, accession to the throne, divine ancestors, warfare, and the rewriting of history. Then she establishes a new theoretical framework within which to conduct further analysis. Her basic contention is that ancient Mesoamerican writing was a tool used by an elite minority in their competition for positions of leadership, prestige, territory, tribute, and advantageous marriages. Marcus convincingly demonstrates that while it may have been based on actual persons and events, this body of prehistoric writing is a deliberately created tangle of what we could call propaganda, myth, and fact, written for political purposes, and not (as many contemporary scholars have come to believe) reliable "history" in a modern sense. "This is a major contribution. The scholarship is first-rate!"--Jeremy A. Sabloff, University of Pittsburgh "A brilliant work, carefully reasoned and effectively argued, but balanced and not overstated. The scholarship is truly outstanding. Joyce Marcus is one of the great Mesoamericanists of our generation."--E. Wyllys Andrews V, Tulane University "A masterful piece of work. We are in the presence of a tour de force."--Robert L. Carneiro, American Museum of Natural History

Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations

Archaeology

Princeton University Press

Preliminary report of an interdisciplinary project carried out at Cerro Azul, a late prehistoric fishing community on the south-central coast of Peru.

Late Intermediate Occupation at Cerro Azul, Perú, A Preliminary Report (Volume 20) (Technical Reports)

U OF M MUSEUM ANTHRO ARCHAEOLOGY

Calakmul is a large Maya site in the Yucatán Peninsula of southern Mexico, just north of Tikal and the Guatemala border. In the 1980s, Joyce Marcus sketched and photographed the inscriptions on the monuments of Calakmul, in an effort to understand the nature of Maya territorial organization through the hieroglyphic record. Through the inscriptions, she was able to identify a sequence of rulers and royal couples, and their association with temples and other architecture at the site. Foreword by William J. Folan.

The Inscriptions of Calakmul: Royal Marriage at a Maya City in Campeche, Mexico (Volume 21) (Technical Reports)

This book covers divination, figurine-making, and women's ritual treatment of ancestors in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, from 1600 to 500 B.C. Women's ritual was distinguished from men's through excavation strategy: houses, dooryards, activity areas, features, middens and public buildings were excavated and studied as separate units, and context was used to link artifacts with women's domains. They were then interpreted using ethnographic and ethnohistoric data on women's ritual. Included are illustrations of more than 800 figurines or figurine parts. This monograph is Vol. 11 of the subseries Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca.

Women's Ritual in Formative Oaxaca: Figurine-making, Divination, Death and the Ancestors (Memoirs) (Volume 33)

San José Mogote, an early village and chiefly center in Mexico s Oaxaca Valley, was excavated over a fifteen-year period. This volume reports in detail on every Early and Middle Formative house recovered, including a complete inventory of artifacts, features, plants, animal bones, and craft raw materials by house, with extensive piece-plotting of items on house floors and dooryards. Reynolds multidimensional scaling confirms the presence of distinct wards within the community. Future volumes will cover the public, religious, and mortuary archaeology.

Excavation at San José Mogote 1: The Household Archaeology (Memoirs) (Volume 40)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Marcus, Joyce. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Marcus, Joyce

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Marcus, Joyce. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Flocks of the Wamani: A Study of Llama Herders on the Punas of Ayacucho, Peru

The Flocks of the Wamani: A Study of Llama Herders on the Punas of Ayacucho, Peru

Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico's Oaxaca Valley (New Aspects of Antiquity)

The Creation of Inequality: How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire

The Creation of Inequality: How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire

Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations

Late Intermediate Occupation at Cerro Azul, Perú, A Preliminary Report (Volume 20) (Technical Reports)

The Inscriptions of Calakmul: Royal Marriage at a Maya City in Campeche, Mexico (Volume 21) (Technical Reports)

Women's Ritual in Formative Oaxaca: Figurine-making, Divination, Death and the Ancestors (Memoirs) (Volume 33)

Excavation at San José Mogote 1: The Household Archaeology (Memoirs) (Volume 40)