The Ancient American World

by Fash, William; Lyons, Mary E.

• ISBN13: 9780195174656
• ISBN10: 0195174658
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-09-22
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Middle schoolers never had it so good! Complete your ancient history collection with this series for students in grades 6 -8. A unique and engrossing collaboration between scholars and young adult fiction writers, The World in Ancient Times covers the ancient world from India to Greece,America to China. Each chapter is filled to the brim with the widest possible range of primary sources, giving each history lesson the texture missing from many general introductions.

Author Biography

William L. Fash is professor of archaeology and ethnology and director of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University.
Mary E. Lyons is the author of more than fifteen children's books, including Sorrow's Kitchen: The Life and Folklore of Zora Neale Hurston (Aladdin, 1993), Letters from a Slave Girl: The Story of Harriet Jacobs (Simon Pulse, 1996), and Feed the Children First: Irish Memories of the Great Hunger (Atheneum, 2002).

Table of Contents

Cast of Characters	9	(1)
Map of the Ancient American World	10	(2)
Introduction: What's Under Your Bedroom?	12	(3)
People of Maize: Early Farmers in the Valley of Oaxaca	15	(7)
A jar from Mexico
Popol Vuh
Fray Bernardino de Sahagun
The Florentine Codex
Land of Rubber: The Olmec Civilization	22	(9)
An Olmec head
An Olmec throne
Conquests and Captives: The First Mesoamerican Cities	31	(8)
A stone portrait
The Tigre Complex
Pyramids, Paintings, and Pottery: Teotihuacan, City of the Gods	39	(7)
A sculpture of Feathered Serpent
A mural from Teotihuacan
K'UK' Mo' Takes a Hike: Written History Takes a Leap	46	(7)
Inscriptions on a Maya altar
A stela
Popol Vuh
The Boy-King of Bone: An Explosion of Maya Hieroglyphs	53	(6)
Emblem glyphs
A hieroglyphic stairway
Temple of Inscriptions
Bishop Diego de Landa
Fray Bernardino de Sahagun
Fear and Fire: The Fall of Maya Kingdoms	59	(5)
A scribal house
A seashell ornament
Hollowed stones
Cotton, Copper, and Canoes: The Rise of the Putun Maya at Chichen Itza	64	(8)
Ferdinand Columbus
The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel
The Feathered Serpent Rides Again: The City of Tula	72	(6)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagun
Nahuatl poem
Columns in Tula Grande
Triple Whammy: Forging the Aztec Empire	78	(6)
Aztec myths
Flowers and Song: The Lives of Aztec Families	84	(6)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagun
War of the Worlds: The Aztec Encounter the Spanish	90	(8)
Bernal Diaz
Alva Ixtilxochitl
Anonymous Aztec author
Fray Bernardino de Sahagun
War of the Worlds, Continued: The Inca and the Spaniards in South America	98	(8)
Guaman Poma
Bernal Diaz
Pedro de Cieza de Leon
Roller-Coaster Roads: Up and Down the Andean World	106	(7)
Pedro de Cieza de Leon
A Tale of Two Cities: The Oldest Towns in the Americas	113	(7)
Mounds of Aspero and Caral
The Thunderous Temple: Andean People Connect	120	(7)
The Lanzon sculpture
On Top of the World: Highland Empires in the Andes	127	(6)
Pedro de Cieza de Leon
The Man With the Gold Earrings: Moche Artists in Coastal Peru	133	(7)
Tomb of the Moche warrior-priest
Chan Chan: Capital City of the Andean Kingdom of Chimor	140	(7)
Chimu myth
Cuzco Rules: The Inca in the Land of the Four Quarters	147	(6)
Bernabe Cobo
Chosen Girls and Breechcloth Boys: Life in the Inca Empire	153	(6)
Guaman Poma
Bernabe Cobo
Epilogue: The Legacy of the Ancient Americas	159	(2)
Timeline	161	(2)
Further Reading	163	(3)
Websites	166	(1)
Index	167	(4)
Text Credits	171	(2)
Picture Credits	173