Paracas Art and Architecture: Object and Context in South Coastal Peru [Hardcover]

Anne Paul (Editor)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 455 pages
• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press; 1st edition (July 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877453276
• ISBN-13: 978-0877453277
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,565,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A dense and very academic book, August 31, 2001

By 

K. Maxwell "katmax1" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paracas Art and Architecture: Object and Context in South Coastal Peru (Hardcover)

This book contains a series of essays on Paracas art on the following subjects:

-Paracas an ancient cultural tradition on the south coast Peru.
-Paracas: Discovery & Controversy
-A technical & Iconographic analysis of Carhua Painted textiles
-Stucture, Image & Abstraction: Paracas Necropolis headbands as system templates
-Paracas necropolis bundle 89: A description
-Physical & Chemical Analysis of Paracas Fibers
-Ecology & Society in embroidered images from the Paracas Necroplis

-Social & Political leadership in the Lower Ica Valley: Ocucaje Phases 8 & 9
-The Paracas problem: Archaelogical perspectives.

As you can see from the above contents list this book is aimed at specialists - and the language is dense in academic and thick with reference terms. The illustrations are meagre and all in Black and white.

While there is a lot of information in this book, as a person doing research in areas relating to some of these subjects I have found this book hard going. I'm sure to find some useful things but only after much digging and decoding of jargon.

So, if you are after a book with beautiful pictures of Paracas textiles - avoid this like the plague. If you are after archaeological research by people who have worked in the field and have finally been able to publish what they have found then this book is probably for you. I'd classify this as a reference work, not a general use book, especially for people new to the area this book would be difficult to use.