The American Southwest remains the locus of a panoply of ancient cultural and artistic developments and long-standing Indigenous traditions. From Durango, CO, to Durango, Mexico, and Las Vegas, NM, to Las Vegas, NV, the Greater Southwest constitutes the developmental arena of such hallowed traditions as those of the Ancestral Pueblo, Mogollon, Hohokam, Sinagua, Salado, Paquimé, Mimbres, Hopi, Navajo, Pima, Paiute, Apache, and Comanche. Anthropological studies of the region and its peoples have witnessed over a century and a half of systematic scientific explorations that have both enriched and muddied understandings of the region's ancient peoples. Palonka succeeds in providing an eminently readable, comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and handsomely illustrated review of the cultural traditions, archaeology, and art history of the Greater Southwest, including northern Mexico. This international perspective is particularly accessible and represents one of the few efforts to internationalize the subject matter, thereby transcending borders, boundaries, and isolationist perspectives that have limited previous works. Palonka's substantive surveys, illustrations, and iconographic interpretations of elaborately decorated ceramics and rock art bolster contextual understandings of the transhumant communities and sedentary town dwellers that comprised the Prehispanic Southwest. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.
