Herbert J. Spinden - Ancient Civilizations of Mexico and Central America

THE WORLDS RIM: GREAT MYSTERIES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, Hartley Burr Alexander. (0-486-40670-9)

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A KIOWA APACHE INDIAN, Edited by Charles S. Brant. (0-486-26862-4)

NAVAJO NATIVE DYES: THEIR PREPARATION AND USE, Nonabah G. Bryan and Stella Young. (0-486-42105-8)

MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND CONDITIONS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, VOLUME I, George Catlin. (0-486-22118-0)

MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND CONDITIONS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, VOLUME II, George Catlin. (0-486-22119-9)

NATIVE AMERICAN CREATION MYTHS, Jeremiah Curtin. (0-486-43736-1)

SENECA INDIAN MYTHS, Collected by Jeremiah Curtin. (0-486-41602-X)

THE INDIANS BOOK, Edited by Natalie Curtis. (0-486-21939-9)

HOW INDIANS USE WILD PLANTS FOR FOOD, MEDICINE & CRAFTS, Frances Densmore. (0-486-23019-8)

CAPTURED BY THE INDIANS: 15 FIRSTHAND ACCOUNTS, 17501870, Edited by Frederick Drimmer. (0-486-24901-8)

INDIAN BOYHOOD, Charles A. Eastman. (0-486-22037-0)

FROM THE DEEP WOODS TO CIVILIZATION, Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa). (0-486-43088-X)

THE SOUL OF THE INDIAN, Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa). (0-486-43089-8)

NATIVE AMERICAN DANCE STEPS, Bessie Evans, May G. Evans. (0-486-42700-5)

AN AZTEC HERBAL: THE CLASSIC CODEX OF 1552, Translated by William Gates. (0-486-41130-3)

GERONIMO: MY LIFE, Geronimo. As Told to S. M. Barrett. (0-486-44363-9)

LIFE OF BLACK HAWK, Black Hawk. (0-486-28105-1)

SACAJAWEA: GUIDE AND INTERPRETER OF LEWIS AND CLARK, Grace Raymond Hebard. (0-486-42149-X)

A CENTURY OF DISHONOR: THE CLASSIC EXPOSE OF THE PLIGHT OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS, Helen Hunt Jackson. (0-486-42698-X)

A MOHAVE WAR REMINISCENCE, 1854-1880, A. L. Kroeber, C. B. Kroeber. (0-486-28163-9)

IROQUOIS MUSIC AND DANCE: CEREMONIAL ARTS OF TWO SENECA LONGHOUSES, Gertrude P. Kurath. (0-486-41469-8)

YUCATAN BEFORE AND AFTER THE CONQUEST, Diego de Landa. (0-486-23622-6)

THE MEXICAN KICKAPOO INDIANS, Felipe A. Latorre, Dolores L. Latorre. (0-486-26742-3)

SIOUX QUILL AND BEADWORK: DESIGNS AND TECHNIQUES, Carrie A. Lyford. (0-486-42089-2)

NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN LEGENDS, Allan A. Macfarlan. (0-486-41947-9)

HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN GAMES, Allan and Paulette Macfarlan. (0-486-24837-2)

MYTHS OF PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICA, Donald A. Mackenzie. (0-486-29379-3)

PUEBLO INDIAN EMBROIDERY, H. P. Mera. (0-486-28418-2)

MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE, James Mooney. (0-486-28907-9)

THE INDIAN JOURNALS 1859-62, Lewis Henry Morgan. (0-486-27599-X)

PATTERNS AND CEREMONIALS OF THE INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST, Ira Moskowitz, John Collier. (0-486-28692-4)

SANDPAINTINGS OF THE NAVAJO SHOOTING CHANT, Franc J. Newcomb, Gladys A. Reichard. (0-486-23141-0)

NAVAHO INDIAN MYTHS, Aileen OBryan. (0-486-27592-2)

THE CAPTIVITY OF THE OATMAN GIRLS AMONG THE APACHE AND MOHAVE INDIANS, Lorenzo D. Oatman and Olive A. Oatman. (0-486-28078-0)

TRAITS OF AMERICAN INDIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER, Peter Skeene Ogden. (0-486-28436-0)

MYTHS AND TALES OF THE JICARILLA APACHE INDIANS, Edward Morris Opler. (0-486-28324-0)

NATIVE AMERICAN BEADWORK, William C. Orchard. (0-486-42483-9)

NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN LIFE: CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS OF 23 TRIBES, Edited by Elsie Clews Parsons. (0-486-27377-6)

TAOS TALES, Elsie Clews Parsons. (0-486-28974-5)

AN ALBUM OF MAYA ARCHITECTURE, Tatiana Proskouriakoff. (0-486-42484-7)

THE BOOK OF INDIAN CRAFTS AND INDIAN LORE, Julian Harris Salomon. (0-486-41433-7)

HISTORY OF THE INCAS, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. (0-486-40441-2)

THE MYTHS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, Lewis Spence. (0-486-25967-6)

YUMAN TRIBES OF THE GILA RIVER, Leslie Spier. (0-486-23611-0)

INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AND ADJACENT COAST OF THE GULF OF, John R. Swanton. (0-486-40177-4)

INDIAN SIGN LANGUAGE, William Tomkins. (0-486-22029-X)

EVERYDAY LIFE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN, Jon Manchip White. (0-486-43143-6)

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Copyright

Copyright 1999 by Dover Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 1999, is an unabridged republication of the third and revised edition of the work originally published in 1928 by the Anthropological Handbook Fund of the American Museum of Natural History, New York. A new Introduction has been specially prepared for this edition.

Please note that this Dover reprint of Ancient Civilizations of Mexico and Central America retains the pagination of the original edition cited above in which the main text begins on page 5. There are no missing pages.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Spinden, Herbert Joseph, 18791967.

Ancient civilizations of Mexico and Central America / Herbert J.

Spinden ; introduction by Bruce E. Byland.

p. cm.

Originally published: Third and rev. ed. New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1928, in series: Handbook series ; no. 3.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

9780486144832

1. Indians of MexicoAntiquities. 2. MexicoAntiquities. 3. Indians of Central AmericaAntiquities. 4. Central AmericaAntiquities. I. Title.

F1219.S767 1999

972.01dc21

99-39030

CIP

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation
40902302
www.doverpublications.com

In 1917, Herbert Spinden published the first edition of the book that is here reprinted. It was, in that year, a monumental work of synthesis. Before it, few attempts had been made to present a unified prehistory of the entire region that was to become known as Mesoamerica. Most of the scholarship of the previous decades had been devoted to the study of particular regions or particular cultures of ancient Mexico (cf. Morley 1915, Prescott 1843, Spinden 1913, Stephens 1841). Earlier efforts at regional integration had only occasionally been undertaken by scholars like T. A. Joyce (1914), C. Lumholtz (1902), A. Peafiel (1890), and E. Seler (19028), among others. Spindens work, though not the most scholarly, was by far the most successful in reaching a popular audience. Designed from the start as a concise survey of the whole region, it presented authoritative information in a well organized and easily readable form. As with any ambitious project, the original edition of this volume prompted some criticism, and so it was revised and improved in each of the later editions (cf. Beyer 1918). It is the third and revised edition, published in 1928, that is here reprinted. A final revision was published as part of Maya Art and Civilization in 1957.

Today, Herbert Spindens many contributions to the field of Mesoamerican art and archaeology are often undervalued, as are his efforts as a humanist who affirmed the worth of all peoplewhatever their race or ethnic background. Important discussions of Spindens life and his contributions to Mesoamerican scholarship can be found in Brunhouse (1975), Wauchope (1965), and Willey and Sabloff (1974).