Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows & Quivers: Volume 1: Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest

Book Description

Beautifully detailed full-page pen-and-ink drawings give dimensions, decorations, and construction details on more than a hundred historic bows, scores of arrows, and two dozen quivers.

Customer Reviews:

Eye Opener.......2007-03-09

This book really opened my eyes. I couldn't put it down for days. I'm still amazed by the high level of workmanship that the Native Americans achieved with these so-called "primitive" weapons. More amazing to me, however, is the realization that there are so many poor quality reproductions on the market...and thanks to this book, I am able to see them for what they are...."ugly" reproductions lacking the artistic, technological, and even spiritual aspects of the originals.

The second book is available (but not on Amazon...for some reason) and I have purchased that one also. It is even better than the first.

Overall, I think that books like this will lead to an appreciation of the art of Native American archery....and for those who think that pictures alone cannot give insights into the construction of these weapons, think again. Anyone who has advanced experience in both woodworking and archery will immediately appreciate this book.

My only question now is why books like this are so rare. Perhaps it is because we are caught up in the "engineering" of archery and not the "art" of archery. Perhaps these weapons are considered "inferior". Perhaps we don't care.....

Excellent reference.......2006-07-24

This is a very useful book for studying tribal or regional designs of bows. Most bows on the market have incorrect or nil provenance on the origin of the bow. This book gives the ethnologist some indication of common characteristics of bow design from the regions listed. If you are looking to build your own bow, Hamm (and others) have different works specifically written for would-be bowyers.

Where is Vol. II ??

From an arrow collector.......2002-05-18

This book, thanks to the very accurate drawings and precise indications (length, diameter, type of wood and fletching, colours indications) have enabled me to duplicate native American arrows with precision. I have often counterchecked the descriptions with some information I have found in museums and found the book very reliable. First pity, there aren't enough photos or colour drawings. Second and most catastrophic pity: why has the publisher apparently given up the idea of publishing the second volume about the Great plains, Columbia and Southwest?

One of a kind, at least for now.......2002-05-17

It is true that this book is not a how-to book, but I think that was the author's intention. What it is, is a much-needed reference work, indeed, it is the first and certainly most up-to-date record of American Indian archery equipment. It's been at least 50 years since a book of this sort has been published. My only objection is that the book does not (cannot?) provide enough context or provenance; this is a minor objection. Perhaps fans of Hamm would be more satisfied with Bows and Arrows of the Native Americans. I'd say the book is directed more towards the ethnographer or anthropologist; however, the book is clearly an invaluable reference for the traditional archer/bowyer (hey, this is a "living" hobby - be creative), as it provides dimensions, materials used, colors, and closeups of designs. Fans of American Indian art in gerneral will also appreciate it. Volume II, which should be available before the end of the year, should be at least as good.

A catalog of Native American Bows.......2001-12-31

I read the two previous reviews, so before buying I exactly knew what to expect.
I received my book a couple of days ago, I really liked it, at least for what it is, a kind of catalog of bows, perfectly drawn, with explanation of wood used, dimensions, and colours.
This on Tribe by Tribe basis.
I'll wait volume 2, about western and Plains Indians.
So, if you are really intrested in Native American bows, this is a book to buy, if you prefer something like a "how to", than the traditional Bowyer's bibles are more fit to what you want. Alberto

Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia (Special -Reference)

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Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia (Special -Reference)
Susan Evans
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

Mexico | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0815308876

Book Description

A rich historical and cultural resource on one of the world's six cradles of civilization.
Mexico and adjacent countries are very much in the news, and the U.S.-Mexican border has become highly porous, with significant exchanges of population and culture. Yet few American have an educated understanding of the cultural roots of our neighbor nation and of the influence of its ancient cultures on the surrounding region.
Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia is the first comprehensive one-volume encyclopedia in English devoted to pre-Columbian archaeology of the Mesoamerican (Mexico and Central America) culture area. This region was one of the world's six cradles of early civilization.

In-depth articles on the major cultural areas of ancient Mexico and Central America.
These entries bring the most recent scholarship to an examination of regional environments and their cultural evolution. Special care has been taken to describe an entire cultural area, not just those sites or aspects that are well known or that have been well researched in the past.

Extensive coverage of important sites
The encyclopedia provides a unique panorama, from the familiar and world-renowned archaeological discoveries of Maya and Aztec sites to more recent excavations (such as the Sayil archaeological zone in the Yucat n and Teopantecuanitl n in Guerrero). It devotes entries not only to the showy sites that are famous among tourists and that have been the subjects of archaeological investigation and writing in the past, but also to the lesser-known and more modest locations that reveal other vital cultural clues.
Essays on specific aspects and practices of Mesoamerican culture
The book considers a wide array of specific topics that bring day-to-day life among these ancient peoples to life. Readers will be tempted to browse among entries devoted to everyday life such as eating habits, dress, and issues surrounding ethnicity as well as to less accessible practices such as ancestor veneration and cannibalism. Valuable resource for students, scholars and travelers
With more than 500 articles by the major experts in the field, the Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia is a reference book aimed at a wide audience that includes students and scholars seeking information about sites and culture areas of the region. The book is also a excellent source for prospective travelers to the region. With more and more North Americans and Europeans traveling in Mexico and Central America--many of them to visit archaeological sites--the encyclopedia is a valuable resource for learning about these sites and about and customs and traditions of the ancient peoples of the region.

Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America contains a number of features that will aid readers and enrich the text. Bibliographies at the end of entries guide the reader to additional sources on a topic. An extensive illustration program-consisting of photographs, geographic maps, maps of important archaeological sites, and a special guide to the pronunciation of ancient terms-allows the reader to see actual sites and cultural artifacts and to place them in a contemporary context. The end of the volume contains an annotated glossary of terms and a comprehensive index.

Chaco Handbook: An Encyclopedia Guide (Chaco Canyon Series)

Average customer rating:

a very good reference, but needed a better overview
Not a field guide
Comprehensive Book fails as a travel guide
SW PreHistory Comes Alive
A superb introduction to The Chaco Phenomenon

Chaco Handbook: An Encyclopedia Guide (Chaco Canyon Series)
R. Gwinn Vivian
Manufacturer: University of Utah Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0874807050

Customer Reviews:

a very good reference, but needed a better overview.......2005-10-31

The Puebloan culture at Chaco Canyon reached its height between AD 1050 and 1120. In addition to constructing greathouses, kivas, tools and pottery, the people also had to solve the problems of living in a harsh environment. For example, they developed intricate systems of controlling water through canals, dams, gates, and gridded gardens.

This book is an excellent reference that lists subjects alphabetically, with brief decriptions (usually not more than one half to one page in length) for each entry. However, I will echo another reviewer's comment that this is not a useful book to take with you when walking among the ruins of Chaco Canyon National Park. I also did not find it as useful when approaching it as an 'introduction' to the culture. It is useful however if you're reading another book about Chaco Canyon or you're already familar with the culture and you want to look up what a Herradura is or to identify what the Rabbit Ruin is and where it's located. There are black-and-white photos and pen-and-ink drawings displayed throughout the book, and there are also maps of topographic and hydrologic features of the area.

My only disappointment is that it was touted on the back cover as 'The Beginner's Salvation' but I never got the beginner's 'big picture' when reading the book's introduction. I would've preferred an overview that addressed the subject in this sequence: reasons the Puebloans began moving and settling into the area, what did early aspects of the culture look like, what main conflicts/issues did they have to resolve along the way and how, what did later aspects of the culture look like, and what were some possible reasons why they left. Instead, I had to wade through a lot to piece this together and there are still a few pieces missing. An overview followed by the introductory chapters would've been more effective. Overall though, as a reference, this book has some great information.

Also, a travel note if you're plannning to visit Chaco Canyon... To get to the park, you have to take a 20-mile long desolate dirt road. I would recommend not taking a regular car or RV out there. When I was there in September, we were just leaving the park as it started to rain. I soon felt fortunate that we had rented an SUV because the road very quickly turned into a thick muck.

Not a field guide.......2004-05-26

Someone's pointed out that this isn't a guide to help you explore Chaco. That's true. This is a book you should probably read before you go there, or even contemplate going there.

Visiting Chaco and other ancient ruin sites in the Southwest is an adventure. If you'd like to see these ruins innocent of any understanding of what you are looking at, of the people who built them, of what's known, believed, speculated about concerning their mysteries, don't buy this book. You'll still enjoy seeing it, but you'll do so with approximately the same level of comprehension as the thousands of others who visit there every year.

This book won't give you a thorough knowledge of Chaco or the Chacoan Culture. No book will. No 100 books will. The fact is we only know a lot about those people when compared to knowing absolutely nothing about them.

But if you want to know what's known and believed about pre-columbians in New Mexico, this is a good place to begin.

Comprehensive Book fails as a travel guide.......2004-04-22

Ever feel that you let the enthusiasm of a review persuade you to purchase something for the wrong reason? Well I did. Like many of you who will visit this amazing site, I was looking for a book that would help me explore it. This book WILL NOT help you plan your trip nor will you want to pack it with you when you go. What it will do is help you write a term paper on Chaco Canyon. Things I want to know when I read about an area are when to go, how long each area should take and strategies to get the best views and pictures. I figured this information would be intermixed with detailed descriptions on the sites history which would elevate it above a typical travel guide. Wrong. It is as far removed from a travel guide as a book can get. Is this the books fault? No probably not. I should have taken the "Encylopedic Guide" reference more literal. However, all those glowing reviews made me feel I was missing something. I was not. I found out just as much about the sites when I visited the on-site museum and read the much shorter official site book (Chaco - A Cultural Legacy). I also found Sandra Hickman's - Hiking the Southwests Canyon Country, to be a better travel companion then this book. Want to know where the petroglyphs are or how to get to New Alto? Not happening with this book. Want a multi page explanation of masonary styles or find out what Uto-Aztecan is? Then this is your book.

SW PreHistory Comes Alive.......2002-09-03

This incredibly detailed and cross-referenced "handbook" is also a fine "literary work"that will delight anyone from novice to active archaeologist. Vivian's lifelong professional involvement with Chaco and Hilpert's facile expertise for public information clarity have made a perfect merger of technical information and spellbinding narrative. Add in wonderful illustrations (many of Vivian's photos and drawings) and time lines and charts, and you have everything one needs to understand, and better yet, REMEMBER AND TRACE, up-to-date info on Chaco. This really goes into the heart of the entire realm of SW PreHistory even beyond Chaco culture. As an active "amateur", I use the gloriously wide margins to record notes from all the good references the book provides on Chaco. Others of less intense interest in Chaco have found gift copies especially rewarding: my son's wife has seen only Mesa Verde, yet she found that this book explained general Anasazi life "at last" in a clear and direct manner; my sister fell in love with the Hopi culture on a visit to the 3 Mesas, and she now feels informed "about the whole idea of the Prehistory of the area" (Hopi and Zuni have their own topics in the book); and my 94 yr old Aunt was here in the 50's and loves SW PreHistory -- but now is quite blind -- so her daughter reads from this handbook to UPDATE her on the whole info range and latest Theory base of the Anasazi/Chaco world. She says the narrative is SO EASY TO UNDERSTAND that she can "build the pictures in her mind". We have been given a fine gift from Vivian and Hilpert. AND CHECK OUT VIVIAN'S LATEST BOOK FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. It includes -- for young people and adults-- a charming personal history on Gwinn Vivian.

A superb introduction to The Chaco Phenomenon.......2002-07-20

Chaco Canyon, site of one of the most remarkable civilizations in North America prior to the European invasion, has long been the subject of speculation, fantasy and intense scientific exploration and study.

The mystery of its origins may never be unraveled, which is perhaps the enduring lure of the Chaco Phenomenon. Visit the ruins of an English castle, or a coastal monastery destroyed by Vikings, and the origins and fate are readily available. At Chaco, the Great Houses built from about 850 AD to 11 AD were the highest stone structures built in the Americas until at least the 18th century.

For Navajos and New Agers, like the English of 850 AD when called on to explain Roman ruins, the structures were built by gods. The reality is more prosaic, Chaco was built by the ancestors of today's pueblo Indians. The mystery is "Why ?"

The Chaco Handbook doesn't attempt to solve the mystery. Instead, it provides a concise handbook of Chacoan studies, illustrated with more than 100 maps, drawings and photos, plus definitions of 250 of the common terms relating to more than a century of exploration and investigations. On the basis of my personal visits beginning in the 1960s, it is the best single volume introduction available to explain Chaco.

It's up-to-date, covering some of the latest original and provocative work by longtime professionals such as Thomas Windes and Steve Lekson. It also mildly debunks the sensationalism of Christy Turner who caused a brief flurry of revulsion with his suggestion it was an ancient pueblo cannibalism center.

It's a handy reference for anyone who has visited, an invaluable resource for anyone who plans to visit and a perfect introduction even for those unable to visit. Instead of the usual detailed archaeological minutiae, "The Chaco Handbook" is ideal for average readers. Written by two consummate experts with decades of professional experience, it is an excellent introduction to visiting and thinking about Chaco.

After reading this book, dozens of other books are available which range from professional reports and analysis of excavated sites to esoteric speculation that varies from Aztec warlords to visitors from outer space. Once again, based on personal experience, this book is the next best thing to living there for several months.

Care for some speculation ? Chaco was abandoned after 1100 AD when the Southwest was hit by a decades-long drought; I've studied quality reports of Chaco groundwater which is laced with high levels of natural pollution that can cause mental retardation. The decline roughly coincides with the introduction of the Kachina religion, still a vital part of Zuni and Hopi societies -- two good reasons to start over someplace else.

When we consider why people do things -- such as build Chaco in the first place, or abandon it after 250 years -- we're looking at some fundamental ideas about the origins and fate of societies. Why migrate to Chaco and build Great Houses ? Look at it this way -- Why should Europeans migrate to America and build a Great Society ? Chaco is a metaphor for our world.

This is the fun of studying and speculating about Chaco, a rich and materialistic society that offered far more than a marginal or subsistence life. The Chaco Phenomenon was a vast construction project lasting hundreds of years, with a profound impact on the regional ecology. It leaves the enduring question, "What inspired these Pueblo Ancestors to such greatness ?"

Granted, this book doesn't delve into such idle and sometimes amusing speculation. But, it offers a concise and comprehensive background for those who ponder such issues, and I recommend it as the best introduction available. It's part of the charm of studying Chaco, the temptation (by amateurs at least) to combine facts with "What if ?" speculation.

Customer Reviews:

Worthless!.......1999-07-12

This book is full of gross misunderstandings and inaccuracies about Mesoamerican Cultures. A single example of the many glaring inaccuracies is the reference to the Chontal of Guerrero as being the same as the Maya Chontal. Apparently, when the authors were in doubt about something they just made it up. Do not buy or use under any circumstances.

An excellent source of detailed information........1998-10-05

This is a must for anyone who is interested in ancient mesoamerican cultures. It is an alphabetical listing of most terms associated with the cultures of the area. It is easy to read and researching is a pleasure. I would highly recommend this book.

Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America : An Encyclopedia

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Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America : An Encyclopedia
Guy E. Gibbon
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 081530725X

Book Description

Did prehistoric humans walk to North America from Siberia?
Who were the inhabitants of the spectacular Anasazi cliff dwellings in the Southwest and why did they disappear?
Native Americans used acorns as a major food source, but how did they get rid of the tannic acid which is toxic to humans?
How does radiocarbon dating work and how accurate is it?

Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology: V.1: Subjects; V.2: A Gazetteer of Explored and Excavated Sites in India

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Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology: V.1: Subjects; V.2: A Gazetteer of Explored and Excavated Sites in India
A. Ghosh
Manufacturer: South Asia Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 8121500877

An Encyclopedia of Concepts and Terminology in American Lithic Technology

Average customer rating:

Great Book, if Real!

An Encyclopedia of Concepts and Terminology in American Lithic Technology
Wm, Jack Hranicky
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Customer Reviews:

Great Book, if Real!.......2007-01-25

I first encountered this book at the Pecos Archaeological Conference. I looked through it, and it was just what I had been looking for. The book was comprehesive, thourough, and highly readable. I then ordered the book only to find that within this book's cover was another book altogether. Instead of containing information on lithics, the book inside was "Data for Biomechanical Research". It is a publisher problem and I don't know how many of these copies exist, so beware!

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Encyclopedia of Indian Archaeology

Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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India | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9004092641

Book Description

An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology is a significant reference work on archaeology in India. It is an authoritative work of permanent value in which the knowledge and expertise of Indian archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India, universities and other institutes have been pooled together under the editorship of the late A. Ghosh, former Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India. The Encyclopaedia has been planned in an ambitious manner; it is not merely an alphabetical listing of entries with sketchy information on topics. Volume 1, which deals with certain broad subjects relating to Indian Archaeology, is divided into twenty chapters, alphabetically arranged. Each chapter is further divided into sections and subsections containing independent and self-contained essays. For example, in the chapter on "Cultures", detailed information can be found on various cultures in India; the chapter on "Basis of dating" contains articles on archaeological dating, archaeomagnetic dating, 14C radio-carbon dating, numismatic dating, palaeographic and epigraphic dating, thermoluminescent dating, etc. For those interested in getting further information on the subjects and in looking into the original sources and references, each entry also carries an exhaustive bibliography. Volume II is the Gazetteer. It contains basic data and information on all the explored and excavated sites in India along with reference to published reports and/or notices on each.

The Mythology of the Americas: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gods, Goddesses, Monsters and Mythical Places from North, South and Central America

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The Mythology of the Americas: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gods, Goddesses, Monsters and Mythical Places from North, South and Central America
Brian Leigh Molyneaux
Manufacturer: Lorenz Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0754805670

Book Description

From the earliest times, people have told stories of gods and goddesses, of mythical creatures and fabulous places in an effort to explain the mysteries of everyday life.

The Peoples of the Caribbean: An Encyclopedia of Archaeology and Traditional Culture

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The Peoples of the Caribbean: An Encyclopedia of Archaeology and Traditional Culture
Nicholas Saunders
Manufacturer: ABC-CLIO
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1576077012
Release Date: 2005-12-16

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