Overview

Ancient South America, 2nd edition features the full panorama of the South American past from the first inhabitants to the European invasions  Isolated for all of prehistory and much of history, the continent witnessed the rise of cultures and advanced civilizations rivalling those of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Independently of developments elsewhere, South American peoples invented agriculture, domesticated animals, and created pottery, elaborate architecture, and the arts of working metals. Tribes, chiefdoms, and immense conquest states rose, flourished, and disappeared, leaving only their ruined monuments and broken artifacts as testimonials to past greatness. This new edition is completely revised and updated to reflect archaeological discoveries and insights made in the past three decades. Incorporating new findings on northern and eastern lowlands, and discussions of the first civilizations, it also examines the first inhabitants of Brazil and Patagonia as well as the Andes. Accessibly written and abundantly illustration, the volume also includes chronological charts and new examples.

Full Product Details

9780521682497

Table of Contents

Reviews

'… provides an excellent introduction to the better-studied cultures of ancient South America … Recommended.' E. R. Swenson, CHOICE

Author Information

Karen Olsen Bruhns is professor emerita at San Francisco State University. A field archaeologist, she has worked at and directed sites in El Salvador, Nicaragua Colombia, Ecuador, and Belize.

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