Rubén G. Mendoza – författare

Despite evidence of warfare and violent conflict in pre-Columbian North America, scholars argue that the scale and scope of Native American violence is exagerated. They contend that scholarly misrepresentation has denigrated indigenous peoples when in fact they lived together in peace and harmony. In rebutting that contention, this groundbreaking book presents clear evidencefrom multiple academic disciplines that indigenous populations engaged in warfare and ritual violence long before European contact. In ten well-documented and thoroughly researched chapters, fourteen leading scholars dispassionately describe sources and consequences of Amerindian warfare and violence, including ritual violence. Originally presented at an American Anthropological Association symposium, their findings construct a convincing case that bloodshed and killing have been woven into the fabric of indigenous life in North America for many centuries. The editors argue that a failure to acknowledge the roles of warfare and violence in the lives of indigenous North Americans is itself a vestige of colonial repression depriving native warriors of their history of armed resistance.These essays document specific acts of Native American violence across the North American continent. Including contributions from anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, and ethnographers, they argue not only that violence existed but also that it was an important and frequently celebrated component of Amerindian life. CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction Richard J. Chacon and Ruben G. Mendoza 1.  Traditional Native Warfare in Western Alaska Ernest S. Burch Jr. 2.  Barbarism and Ardour of War from the Tenderest Years?: Cree-Inuit Warfare in the Hudson Bay Region Charles A. Bishop and Victor P. Lytwyn 3.  Aboriginal Warfare on the Northwest Coast: Did the Potlatch Replace Warfare? Joan A. Lovisek 4.  Ethnohistoric Descriptions of Chumash Warfare John R. Johnson 5.  Documenting Conflict in the Prehistoric Pueblo Southwest Polly Schaafsma 6.  Cahokia and the Evidence for Late Pre-Columbian War in the North American Midcontinent Thomas E. Emerson 7.  Iroquois-Huron Warfare Dean R. Snow 8.  Desecrating the Sacred Ancestor Temples: Chiefly Conflict and Violence in the American Southeast David H.Dye and Adam King 9.  Warfare, Population, and Food Production in Prehistoric Eastern North America George R. Milner 10.  The Osteological Evidence for Indigenous Warfare in North America Patricia M. Lambert 11.  Ethical Considerations and Conclusions Regarding Indigenous Warfare and Violence in North America Richard J. Chacon and Ruben G. Mendoza References About the Contributors Index

This groundbreaking multidisciplinary book presents significant essays on historical indigenous violence in Latin America from Tierra del Fuego to central Mexico. The collection explores those uniquely human motivations and environmental variables that have led to the native peoples of Latin America engaging in warfare and ritual violence since antiquity. Based on an American Anthropological Association symposium, this book collects twelve contributions from sixteen authors, all of whom are scholars at the forefront of their fields of study.All of the chapters advance our knowledge of the causes, extent, and consequences of indigenous violence—including ritualized violence—in Latin America. Each major historical/cultural group in Latin America is addressed by at least one contributor. Incorporating the results of dozens of years of research, this volume documents evidence of warfare, violent conflict, and human sacrifice from the fifteenth century to the twentieth, including incidents that occurred before European contact. Together the chapters present a convincing argument that warfare and ritual violence have been woven into the fabric of life in Latin America since remote antiquity.For the first time, expert subject-area work on indigenous violence—archaeological, osteological, ethnographic, historical, and forensic—has been assembled in one volume. Much of this work has heretofore been dispersed across various countries and languages. With its collection into one English-language volume, all future writers—regardless of their discipline or point of view—will have a source to consult for further research.

The twenty-one missions of California, from San Diego to San Francisco Solano, are historic treasures and sites of pilgrimage for visitors from the world over. Intrinsically beautiful structures typically built of adobe brick and wood, adorned with towers, domes, whitewashed stucco, often surrounded by lush gardens, the missions are at the very heart of California. Established by Spanish padres and preserved and restored by historians and architects, California s missions are unique monuments to the region s early Spanish history. This colourful, informative exploration of all twenty-one missions, each with its own rich story to tell, journeys along the historic Camino Real, from Mission Dolores with its flower-strewn courtyard gardens, in San Francisco, to San Juan Capistrano, famous for the swallows that flock to its inviting grounds. With lush photography that captures the missions details so splendidly, this is the perfect book for mission visitors and lovers of their strong and simple forms.

Desert hues, natural materials, thick hand-plastered walls, and adobe brick construction are hallmarks of the Santa Fe Style, which is as much an expression in architecture, interior design, art, and crafts as it is a way of life. Rooted in a sense of earthy comfort inspired by its history, the surrounding desert, and Native American and Hispanic design influences, the style has a timeless appeal and vibrant ongoing life that has resulted in these extraordinary homes. With features such as eighteenth-century peeled vigas, tin chandeliers, romantic iron sconces, and hand-hewn wood-beamed ceilings, each house is a rich yet harmonious invitation that will engage the senses and speak to the soul. Beyond the houses, the writer and photographer spotlight those details and spaces that together convey the magic of this very special place, including patios and gardens; fireplaces, kivas, and hornos; ceramics; Native American arts; cabinets and trasteros; folk art; and weaving. Casa Santa Fe is the definitive sourcebook for architects, designers, builders, homeowners, and interior decorators seeking to expand their visual repertoire of historically defined and classically inspired architectural details and interior appointments.

The decision to publish scholarly findings bearing on the question of Amerindian environmental degradation, warfare, and/or violence is one that weighs heavily on anthropologists. This burden stems from the fact that documentation of this may render descendant communities vulnerable to a host of predatory agendas and hostile modern forces. Consequently, some anthropologists and community advocates alike argue that such culturally and socially sensitive, and thereby, politically volatile information regarding Amerindian-induced environmental degradation and warfare should not be reported. This admonition presents a conundrum for anthropologists and other social scientists employed in the academy or who work at the behest of tribal entities.This work documents the various ethical dilemmas that confront anthropologists, and researchers in general, when investigating Amerindian communities. The contributions to this volume explore the ramifications of reporting--and, specifically,--of non-reporting instances of environmental degradation and warfare among Amerindians. Collectively, the contributions in this volume, which extend across the disciplines of archaeology, anthropology, ethnohistory, ethnic studies, philosophy, and medicine, argue that the non-reporting of environmental mismanagement and violence in Amerindian communities generally harms not only the field of anthropology but the Amerindian populations themselves.

The decision to publish scholarly findings bearing on the question of Amerindian environmental degradation, warfare, and/or violence is one that weighs heavily on anthropologists. This burden stems from the fact that documentation of this may render descendant communities vulnerable to a host of predatory agendas and hostile modern forces. Consequently, some anthropologists and community advocates alike argue that such culturally and socially sensitive, and thereby, politically volatile information regarding Amerindian-induced environmental degradation and warfare should not be reported. This admonition presents a conundrum for anthropologists and other social scientists employed in the academy or who work at the behest of tribal entities.This work documents the various ethical dilemmas that confront anthropologists, and researchers in general, when investigating Amerindian communities. The contributions to this volume explore the ramifications of reporting--and, specifically,--of non-reporting instances of environmental degradation and warfare among Amerindians. Collectively, the contributions in this volume, which extend across the disciplines of archaeology, anthropology, ethnohistory, ethnic studies, philosophy, and medicine, argue that the non-reporting of environmental mismanagement and violence in Amerindian communities generally harms not only the field of anthropology but the Amerindian populations themselves.

This edited volume addresses the environmental and cultural underpinnings of the kind of social conflict that spawned the origins and elaboration of ritualized human and animal sacrifice in Mesoamerica. The chapters variously document the place of cultural evolution and social complexity in the origins and elaboration of ritual human sacrifice, cannibalism, and trophy-taking across a broad spectrum of Mesoamerican cultural and social contexts that first saw the light of day before 2600 BCE, and rapidly developed and proliferated across the Mesoamerican world in the centuries to follow. They study the developments in sacrifice rituals through the centuries into the first millennium CE, when the Mexica Aztec and their allies had elevated ritual human sacrifice such that they produced a plethora of sacrificial acts, modes and manners of death, and associated deities to articulate the necro-cultures and blood-tribute of the times. The chapters further study present-day rites of Amerindian communities from throughout Mesoamerica that include paying homage to the deities of earth and sky through sacrifice and consumption of animal surrogates. The interdisciplinary effort undertaken by this international cadre of scientists, including anthropologists, bioarchaeologists, art historians, ethnohistorians, iconographers, and religious studies experts provides a particularly rich forum for launching an interrogation into the role of conflict, environment, and social complexity in the emergence and persistence of ritual violence and human sacrifice in the Mesoamerican world.

This edited volume addresses the environmental and cultural underpinnings of the kind of social conflict that spawned the origins and elaboration of ritualized human and animal sacrifice in Mesoamerica. The chapters variously document the place of cultural evolution and social complexity in the origins and elaboration of ritual human sacrifice, cannibalism, and trophy-taking across a broad spectrum of Mesoamerican cultural and social contexts that first saw the light of day before 2600 BCE, and rapidly developed and proliferated across the Mesoamerican world in the centuries to follow. They study the developments in sacrifice rituals through the centuries into the first millennium CE, when the Mexica Aztec and their allies had elevated ritual human sacrifice such that they produced a plethora of sacrificial acts, modes and manners of death, and associated deities to articulate the necro-cultures and blood-tribute of the times. The chapters further study present-day rites of Amerindian communities from throughout Mesoamerica that include paying homage to the deities of earth and sky through sacrifice and consumption of animal surrogates. The interdisciplinary effort undertaken by this international cadre of scientists, including anthropologists, bioarchaeologists, art historians, ethnohistorians, iconographers, and religious studies experts provides a particularly rich forum for launching an interrogation into the role of conflict, environment, and social complexity in the emergence and persistence of ritual violence and human sacrifice in the Mesoamerican world.

This edited volume addresses the environmental and cultural underpinnings of the kind of social conflict that spawned the origins and elaboration of ritualized human and animal sacrifice in Mesoamerica. The chapters variously document the place of cultural evolution and social complexity in the origins and elaboration of ritual human sacrifice, cannibalism, and trophy-taking across a broad spectrum of Mesoamerican cultural and social contexts that first saw the light of day before 2600 BCE, and rapidly developed and proliferated across the Mesoamerican world in the centuries to follow. They study the developments in sacrifice rituals through the centuries into the first millennium CE, when the Mexica Aztec and their allies had elevated ritual human sacrifice such that they produced a plethora of sacrificial acts, modes and manners of death, and associated deities to articulate the necro-cultures and blood-tribute of the times. The chapters further study present-day rites of Amerindian communities from throughout Mesoamerica that include paying homage to the deities of earth and sky through sacrifice and consumption of animal surrogates. The interdisciplinary effort undertaken by this international cadre of scientists, including anthropologists, bioarchaeologists, art historians, ethnohistorians, iconographers, and religious studies experts provides a particularly rich forum for launching an interrogation into the role of conflict, environment, and social complexity in the emergence and persistence of ritual violence and human sacrifice in the Mesoamerican world.

The advent of social complexity has been a longstanding debate among social scientists. Existing theories and approaches involving the origins of social complexity include environmental circumscription, population growth, technology transfers, prestige-based and interpersonal-group competition, organized conflict, perennial wartime leadership, wealth finance, opportunistic leadership, climatological change, transport and trade monopolies, resource circumscription, surplus and redistribution, ideological imperialism, and the consideration of individual agency.However, recent approaches such as the inclusion of bioarchaeological perspectives, prospection methods, systematically-investigated archaeological sites along with emerging technologies are necessarily transforming our understanding of socio-cultural evolutionary processes. In short, many pre-existing ways of explaining the origins and development of social complexity are being reassessed. Ultimately, the contributors to this edited volume challenge the status quo regarding how and why social complexity arose by providing revolutionary new understandings of social inequality and socio-political evolution.