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Prehistoric man in the New World [contributors: Pedro Armillas and others. Editors: Jesse D. Jennings and Edward Norbeck]

Catalog Data

Author:
Armillas, Pedro  Search this
Rice University  Search this
Editor:
Jennings, Jesse D (Jesse David) 1909-1997  Search this
Norbeck, Edward 1915-1991  Search this
Physical description:
x, 633 pages illustrations, maps, tables 24 cm
Type:
Books
Place:
America
Amérique
Date:
1964
Notes:
"The papers ... are lengthier versions of addresses delivered at Rice University on November 9 and 10, 1962, in a symposium entitled 'Prehistoric Man in the New World.'"
NMAI copy 39088009477332 has bookplate: Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Gift from the library of John C. Ewers.
Contents:
Introduction / Jesse D. Jennings and Edward Norbeck -- Opening address -- Geoanthropology / Carey Croneis -- Earliest times -- Early man in the New World / Alex D. Krieger -- The north -- The Arctic and Subarctic / Henry B. Collins -- Western North America -- The western coast of North America / Robert F. Heizer -- The desert west / Jesse D. Jennings -- The greater Southwest / Erik K. Reed -- The Great Plains / Waldo R. Wedel -- Eastern North America -- The northeast woodlands area / James B. Griffin -- The southeastern United States / William H. Sears -- Mesoamerica -- Northern Mesoamerica / Pedro Armillas -- Southern Mesoamerica / Robert Wauchope -- South America -- The Caribbean area / Irving Rouse -- Lowland South America / Clifford Evans -- South American high cultures / Alfred Kidder II -- Special studies -- Transpacific contacts / Gordon F. Ekholm -- North and South American cultural connections and convergences / Betty J. Meggers -- Linguistic overview / Morris Swadesh -- Closing address -- Concluding remarks / Ignacio Bernal
Summary:
"Estimates of man's antiquity in the Americas vary from about 12,000 to as much as 30,000 to 40,000 years. Clear evidence indicates that he lived in North America as early as 12,000 years ago as a hunter of mammoths and bison. The highest development of American Indian culture followed much later in the civilizations based on agriculture of Mesoamerica and northern South America. Learning the complete record of man's life in the New World has been one of the goals of archeology, and recent research has greatly increased our knowledge of this subject. But the vastness of the area and the variations in the quality and quantity of the data found in different parts of the country make American prehistory as unwieldy a subject as it is fascinating. Archeologists in this field long ago became specialists in restricted geographical areas, and it grows increasingly difficult to gain an over-all view. Geologists and linguists, too, have contributed through research in their disciplines to the literature of American prehistory. The volume performs a unique service for professional archeologists and lay readers alike in bringing together in straightforward, non-technical language the principal findings of the most recent research as well as the accumulated results of many years' study."-- Book jacket
Topic:
Antiquities  Search this
Indiens d'Amérique--Antiquités  Search this
Indians--Antiquities  Search this
Prehistoric peoples  Search this
Préhistoire  Search this
Antiquités préhistoriques  Search this
Antiquités  Search this
Man, Prehistoric  Search this
Call number:
E61 .W718
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_20124