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Volume X / Number 1-2

1943

Preface

American Collections The Ancient Civilizations of Middle America

By: J. Alden Mason

Volume X / Number 1-2

THE Middle American Halls of The University Museum contain one of the world’s best collections of objects produced by the ancient Maya civilization in Guatemala and adjacent regions, and by some of the other advanced cultures of Middle America. The finest of these art objects are shown and described in this publication. Naturally, only a […]


Introduction

American Collections The Ancient Civilizations of Middle America

By: J. Alden Mason

Volume X / Number 1-2

THE massive pyramids of southern Mexico, Yucatan and Guatemala, dominating their surroundings, epitomize the nature of the theocratic civilizations that built them, old, out of tune with modern industrial culture, majestic but stony-hearted. In effect they call to mind the pyramids of Egypt, and many wild hypotheses have been built upon this resemblance which is […]


The Valley of Mexico

American Collections The Ancient Civilizations of Middle America

By: J. Alden Mason

Volume X / Number 1-2

Of the early nomadic hunting peoples of Mexico who must have preceded the sedentary agricultural ones we know nothing. So far no site has been discovered that shows evidence of the early stages of agriculture and of pottery making, which generally accompanied it. The earliest peoples yet known to us were already far along the […]


The Maya

American Collections The Ancient Civilizations of Middle America

By: J. Alden Mason

Volume X / Number 1-2

THE forested lowlands of the present Guatemala, Yucatan, and adjacent parts of southern Mexico and northern Honduras produced the highest expression in America of the religious impulse, the greatest development in intellectual, artistic, and architectural achievement. But, unlike the Aztecs and the Incas, the zenith of the culture of the Maya had passed by the […]


Other Theocratic Cultures of Mexico

American Collections The Ancient Civilizations of Middle America

By: J. Alden Mason

Volume X / Number 1-2

WE have described the Aztecs and their culture in some detail because they were in their zenith at the time the Spaniards overwhelmed Mexico, and had subdued most of the other native cultures and peoples, but this does not imply that they were superior to the latter except by force of arms. A half dozen […]


The Lesser Archaeological Cultures of Mexico and Central America

American Collections The Ancient Civilizations of Middle America

By: J. Alden Mason

Volume X / Number 1-2

TO the northwest of Mexico City, in the state of Michoacan and around Lake Patzcuaro, lived and live the Tarascan Indians. These had the most variant culture of any of the more important Mexican peoples. Their language, apparently unconnected with any other, and the archaic aspect of their art, suggest that they were one of […]


The Indian Peoples of Middle America Today

American Collections The Ancient Civilizations of Middle America

By: J. Alden Mason

Volume X / Number 1-2

IN contrast to the United States, where Indians form an infinitesimal part of the population in the urban, industrial and agricultural regions, and where almost all of them have been segregated on reservations, Indian blood characterizes the major part of the people of several republics of Middle and South America. In both Mexico and Guatemala, […]


Notes For Further Reading

American Collections The Ancient Civilizations of Middle America

By: J. Alden Mason

Volume X / Number 1-2

THE literature on Middle American archaeology is voluminous, with a few sound and reliable, popular readable books by recognized authorities, a few sensational or visionary ones, and a great quantity of detailed and technical reports and monographs. Dr. Linton Satterthwaite, Jr., of the MUSEUM staff, has prepared a mimeographed annotated reading list, as of 1939, […]


Publications of the University Museum on Middle America

American Collections The Ancient Civilizations of Middle America

By: J. Alden Mason

Volume X / Number 1-2

Information on and prices of the following publications will gladly be sent on request to the Secretary. Those preceded by an asterisk are out of print. The references to figures are to those in this handbook. SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS: Painted Maya Pottery in the Museum and Other Collections. Albums of full-size reproductions in color. Parts I […]