Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volume 1 : : Natural Environment and Early Cultures / / Robert Wauchope; ed. by Robert C. West.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Wauchope, Robert,
• MitwirkendeR: Aveleyra Arroyo de Anda, Luís,; Collier, Albert,; Ekholm, Gordon F.,; Hubbs, Carl L.,; MacNeish, Richard S.,; Maldonado-Koerdell, Manuel,; Mangelsdorf, Paul C.,; Millon, René F.,; Roden, Gunnar I.,; Stevens, Rayfred L.,; Stuart, L. C.,; Tamayo, Jorge L.,; Vivó Escoto, Jorge A.,; Wagner, Philip L.,; West, Robert C.,; Willey, Gordon R.,
• HerausgeberIn: West, Robert C.,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021]; ©1964
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (590 p.)

This is the first volume of the monumental Handbook of Middle American Indians, a definitive encyclopaedia of the environment, archaeology, ethnology, social anthropology, ethnohistory, linguistics, and physical anthropology of the native peoples of Mexico and Central America. The Handbook was published in cooperation with the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University under the general editorship of Robert Wauchope (1909–1979). This volume of the Handbook was edited by Dr. Robert C. West (1913–2001), Boyd Professor of Geography at Louisiana State University, an outstanding authority on Latin America. He was formerly cultural geographer for the Smithsonian Institution. Included in this first volume are chapters written by leading authorities in various fields of the natural and social sciences that are concerned with the natural environment of Middle America, its role in the shaping of Indian cultures, the earliest primitive hunters of this area, the beginnings of agriculture, and the broad patterns of prehistoric civilizations there. There are articles on the geohistory and paleogeography of Middle America, its surface configuration and associated geology, hydrography, the American Mediterranean, oceanography and marine life along the Pacific coast, weather and climate, natural vegetation, the soils and their relation to the Indian peoples and cultures, fauna , the natural regions of Middle America, the primitive hunters, the food-gathering and incipient agricultural stage of prehistoric Middle America, origins of agriculture there, and the patterns of farming life and civilization. The Handbook of Middle American Indians was assembled and edited at the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University with the assistance of grants from the National Science Foundation and under the sponsorship of the National Research Council Committee on Latin American Anthropology.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- 1. Geohistory and Paleogeography of Middle America -- 2. Surface Configuration and Associated Geology of Middle America -- 3. The Hydrography of Middle America -- 4. The American Mediterranean -- 5. Oceanography and Marine Life along the Pacific Coast -- 6. Weather and Climate of Mexico and Central America -- 7. Natural Vegetation of Middle America -- 8. The Soils of Middle America and their Relation to Indian Peoples and Cultures -- 9. Fauna of Middle America -- 10. The Natural Regions of Middle America -- 11. The Primitive Hunters -- 12. The Food-gathering and Incipient Agriculture Stage of Prehistoric Middle America -- 13. Origins of Agriculture in Middle America -- 14. The Patterns of Farming Life and Civilization -- References -- Index