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Ancient Middle America

Spring 2019 Calendar

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  map: Mesoamerica and Its Cultural Areas
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 Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica

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Ancient Middle America Course Information


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Tuesday, 15-Oct-2024 18:42:17 GMT

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Textbooks

Cutting Costs for College Textbooks -- NPR

general textbook information

The Maya 9th Ed. is currently available online from about $18.32 new, $12.68 used, $12.99 Kindle
(+ p/h, at amazon.com & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25).
(28 December 2018)

Mexico 7th Ed. is currently available online from about $18.46 new, $17.00 used
(+ p/h, at amazon.com & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25).
(26 August 2013)

UMD Bookstore | Amazon.com | Barnes and Noble
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Reading Assignments

~

Welcome to Ancient Cultures of Middle America

Available on-line in your
 Canvas
folder

This will be a great course, and a great experience. You will see. . . .

I am looking forward to meeting you in person on the17th. . . . In the meantime, you might want to have a look at the information in your Canvas folder, or the companion on-line materials, which you can find on the web at <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth3618/macal-f2012.html#title>.

Right off the bat you might also be interested in the textbooks for the course.  Information on the textbook can be found at <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth3618/matext.html#title>.

 
 Text, The Maya, 9th Edition, Michael D. Coe.

The Maya (9th Ed.)
Michael D. Coe and Stephen D. Houston
(NY: Thames and Hudson, 2015)
ISBN-10: 0500291888
ISBN-13: 978-0500291887

The Maya 9th Ed. is currently available online from about $18.32 new, $12.68 used, $12.99 Kindle
(+ p/h, at amazon.com & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25).
(28 December 2018)

 

 Text, Mexico, 7th Edition, Michael D. Coe and Rex Koontz.

Mexico (7th Ed.)
Michael D. Coe and Rex Koontz
(NY: Thames and Hudson 2013)
ISBN-10: 0500290768
ISBN-13: 9780500290767

Mexico (7th Ed.) is currently available online from about $20.22 new, $12.40 used
(+ p/h, at amazon.com & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25).
(27 November 2017)

UMD Bookstore | Amazon.com | Barnes and Noble
CampusBooks.com | Chegg [rental] | ecampus.com | half.com
booksprice.com | CheapestTextbooks.com | CourseSmart.com | TextbookMedia.com

More information on the text is available on the course text WebPage at <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth3618/matext.html#title>

Thousands of other books are available free online, full text versions <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/reference/books.html#title>, and might occasionally be useful in one or more of your other courses.

And more information on textbooks in general can be found at <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/tr/trtextbooks.html#title>.

One of the four main characteristics of American Anthropology is fieldwork, "a primary research technique, involving “participant observation," which usually means living among the people one is interested in learning from and about. It would be wonderful if for anthropology classes we could just rent a bus or charter a plane and fly off for a year or more to learn first-hand from the people themselves. Money, time, and practicality prohibit that, so the next best things—when it comes to studying anthropology—is going to places and viewing subjects by film. More information on Visual Anthropology is available on-line at <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1604/visual_anthropology.html#title>. Be sure to have a look at that.

Detailed information on these sorts of activities will be provided as we go along, but you can have a preview look in your Moodle home anytime you like.

You will find the names of some of the places confusing at first—don't let that bother you. After about six weeks they will start sounding familiar to you. Many of the names are in Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) or in a Maya or other Mesoamerican dialect so they will sound a bit exotic at first. You will not have to memorize the names, just be able to recognize the major locations and peoples.

Exams will be open-book essays constructed from a list of study questions that you help create, so it would be a good idea for you to have your own copy of each text you plan to use in the exams (see above), and it is a good idea that you take your reading notes right in your copy of the text itself.

One thing that you should keep in mind when approaching the readings, which I will talk more about as the class progresses, is that as mentioned above the exams are open-book. And for that you should normally just need to read the books carefully and be able to discuss them intelligently. That is, you should read these as if you had picked them up at an airport or neighborhood bookshop because you were interested in the subject and wanted to know more about it, just like millions of people have been doing with Michael Coe’s many books for decades. And they are still reading them in everyday life today. Your textbooks are two of the most read books on Ancient Middle America—which is in part why you can purchase them at such a bargain price.

In short, this class aims to give you practice in critical thinking, and even creativity.

Critical thinking, involving evaluation and synthesis, has long been regarded as essential for success in the modern-day world. In recent years, actually for two decades, creativity has also become central to success, and "process skills" have become vital to creativity. Process skills involve "strategies to reframe challenges and extrapolate and transform information, and to accept and deal with ambiguity" (Pappano, "Learning to Think Outside the Box," The New York Times EducationLife, 9 February 2014, 8). Laura Pappano, writer in residence at Wellesley Center for Women at Wellesley College, points out that "In 2010 'creativity' was the factor mos crucial for success found in an I.B.M. survey of 1,500 chief executives in 33 industries. These days 'creative' is the most used buzzword in LinkedIn profiles two years running" (2014, 8).

Here's a recent interesting article from Minnesota Public Radio . . .

How to choose college classes: 6 tips
--Tracy Mumford, Minnesota Public Radio News (10 September 2015)

With all of the materials you will be expected to share your ideas and comments with others in the Class Forums and wikis. I'm looking forward to that.

My office hours (and regular schedule information) can be found at your Moodle "Home" and on-line on the regular UMD WebSite at <http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1602/pcoffice.html#title>.

Finally, laptops are welcome, in fact encouraged, in the classroom. Many find a laptop quite useful in following the class materials. You can, for example, download all of the slide materials used in class.

So once again, welcome to Ancient Middle America. This will be a great course, and a great experience. You will see. . . .

Have a great Labor Day . . . .

If you have any questions right now, please do not hesitate to post them on the Moodle "Messenger" or e-mail troufs@d.umn.edu, or stop in before class at Cina 215 [ map <http://www.d.umn.edu/~giscalab/images/campus_map.gif>].

Best Wishes,

Tim Roufs
28 December 2018
<http://www.d.umn.edu/~troufs/>

P.S. If you are new to the world of "technology" don't worry too much about that. Things may not "work" for you at first, but hang in there and we'll help you along.


~
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Text, The Maya, 9th Edition, Michael D. Coe.

The Maya (9th Ed.)

Michael D. Coe and Stephen D. Houston

(NY: Thames and Hudson, 2015)
ISBN-10: 0500291888
ISBN-13: 978-0500291887

The Maya 9th Ed. is currently available online from about $18.32 new, $12.68 used, $12.99 Kindle
(+ p/h, at amazon.com & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25).
(28 December 2018)

UMD Bookstore | Amazon.com | Barnes and Noble
CampusBooks.com | Chegg [rental] | ecampus.com | half.com
booksprice.com | CheapestTextbooks.com | CourseSmart.com | TextbookMedia.com

  • "A clear and intelligent description of the development and organization of Maya civilization."—Natural History

"The Maya has long been established as the best, most readable introduction to the New World's greatest ancient civilization. In these pages Professor Coe distills a life-time's scholarship for the general reader and student."

"Since the publication of the sixth edition of The Maya, new sites have been uncovered and further excavations in old sites have proceeded at an unprecedented pace. Among the many new discoveries is the chance find of extraordinary murals dating to ca. AD 100 at San Bartolo in the Petén. New epigraphic, archaeological, and osteological research has thrown light on the identity of the "founding fathers" of such great sites as Tikal and Copan, and their close affiliation with Teotihuacan in central Mexico. The previously little known center of Ek' Balam in northeastern Yucatan has turned out to be a regional kingdom of major importance, with extraordinary stucco reliefs and a plethora of painted inscriptions."

"It has now become apparent that the birth of Maya civilization lies not in the Classic but during the Preclassic period, above all in the Mirador Basin of Northern Guatemala, where the builders of gigantic ancient cities (interconnected by causeways) erected by the world's largest pyramid as early as 200 BC. All of these finds suggest that we must rethink what we mean by 'Classic.'"

"The seventh edition also presents new evidence for the use of wetlands by the Classic Maya, and fresh perspectives on the close of the ninth century."

"Michael D. Coe is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Yale University. His many other books include Mexico, The True History of Chocolate, Breaking the Maya Code, Reading the Maya Glyphs, and Angkor and the Khmer Civilization."

"As a general introduction, this seems all that is needed."
—Latin America in Books

"The rise, development, and fall of this amazing culture is explained factually and succinctly." — Library Journal

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction 11
2 The earliest Maya 41
3 The rise of Maya civilization 57
4 Classic splendor: the early period 81
5 Classic splendor: the late period 103
6 The terminal Classic 151
7 The Post-Classic 165
8 Maya life on the eve of the Conquest 192
9 Maya thought and culture 199
10 The enduring Maya 230
Visiting the Maya area 243
Dynastic rules of Classic Maya cities 247


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Text, Mexico, 7th Edition, Michael D. Coe and Rex Koontz.

Mexico (7th Ed.)

Michael D. Coe a
nd Rex Koontz

(NY: Thames and Hudson, 2013)
ISBN-13: 978-0-500-29076-7

Mexico (7th Ed.) is currently available online from about $19.33 new, $13.08 used
(+ p/h, at amazon.com & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25).
(17 August 2014)

UMD Bookstore | Amazon.com | Barnes and Noble
CampusBooks.com | Chegg [rental] | ecampus.com | half.com
booksprice.com | CheapestTextbooks.com | CourseSmart.com | TextbookMedia.com
  • "A pioneering synthesis."—Antiquity
  • "Fascinating reading . . . an accessible, informed and extremely well illustrated introductory book."—Popular Archaeology

"Michael D. Coe's Mexico has long been recognized as the most readable and authoritative introduction to the region's ancient civilizations. This companion to his best-selling The Maya has now been completely revised and expanded for the fifth edition by Professor Coe and Rex Koontz."

"The sixth edition includes new developments in the birth of agriculture and writing, both of which were independently invented here. Fresh insights into the metropolis of Teotihuacán reveal a world of palaces and warrior cults brought down by social revolts. A spectacular new find in the center of the Aztec capital, just unearthed, gives us a privileged glimpse into the funerary rites of the most powerful monarch in North America at the time."

"Michael D. Coe is Professor Emeritus of anthropology at Yale University. His many books include The Maya, Breaking the Maya Code, Reading the Maya Glyphs, and, with his late wife, Sophie D. Coe, The True History of Chocolate (all published by Thames & Hudson). Rex Koontz teaches art history at the University of Houston. He is senior editor of Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica and the author of articles on Ancient Mexican art, architecture, and aesthetics."

"Compendious . . . the first history that puts the subject in its full geographical and climatic context. . . . Coe has done admirably."—The Times Literary Supplement

 

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 Canvas

Table of Contents

Preface
Chronological Table
1 Introduction
2 Early Hunters
3 The Archaic Period
4 The Preclassic Period: Early Villagers
5 The Preclassic Period: Early Civilizations
6 The Classic Period
7 The Epiclassic Period
8 The Post-Classic Period: The Toltec State
9 The Post-Classic Period: Rival States
10 The Aztecs in 1519
Epilogue
Visiting Mexico
Reigning Monarchs of the Aztec State
Text References
Further Reading
List of Illustrations
Index
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