Arthur A. Demarest

A remarkable range of ancient societies and economies flourished in the environmentally diverse coastal regions of Pacific Latin America. This first ever synthesis from a Pacific perspective describes the archaeological investigations recently undertaken in the coastal littoral. Studying the similarities, and the many differences, of these varied prehistoric cultures can help us understand some central issues in archaeology--to what extent were cultural variations caused by different historical traditions, environmental conditions, and interactions with neighboring peoples, and how do civilizations arise? In this volume, specialists explain their latest findings in terms of archaic period adaptations, the development and spread of agriculture, the beginnings of sedentism, the formative periods of civilization, and the origins of socio-political inequality. The essays report on archaeological research in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, and Peru--an are extending from the Marismas region of coastal Mexico to Chile's north coast.

Religion and Empire is an innovative and provocative study of the two largest states of the Precolumbian Americas, the Aztec and Inca Empires. By examining the causes of the formation and expansion of these two empires, the authors identify similar patterns and processes underlying their rise and decline. They demonstrate that in both examples among the critical elements in the transition from marginal people to imperial power to disintegrating society were changes in traditional religion, including the elaboration of Aztec human sacrifice and Inca worship of the corpses of their kings. The authors show that the complex interaction between such ideological shifts and political and economic factors generated the spectacular historical trajectories of these Pre-Colombian empires.