Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved (New Aspects of Antiquity) [Hardcover]

Joyce Marcus (Author), Kent Flannery (Author)

Book Description

Series: New Aspects of Antiquity | Publication Date: April 1996

A description of the work of Kent Flannery, Joyce Marcus and their colleagues in Mexico's Oaxaca Valley where the Zapotecs created one of the world's original civilizations. At its peak 1500 years ago, the Zapotec capital of Monte Alban - with its magnificent temples, tombs, ballcourts and hieroglyphic inscriptions - dominated a society of over 100,000 people with farflung territorial outposts. Yet a millennium earlier Monte Alban had been uninhabited and the valley's population less than one tenth its later size. The authors of the book go back to the beginnings of the settlement in Oaxaca 10,000 years ago to provide the answers to what caused this sudden cultural flowering.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 255 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500050783
• ISBN-13: 978-0500050781
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,478,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book, July 4, 2000

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved (New Aspects of Antiquity) (Hardcover)

I really, really, really liked this book. If I could have given it 6 stars I probably would have! The authors of Zapotec Civilization have covered the field nicely for this small segment of the perhistoric Middle American world and have set it clearly amidst the other contemporary cultures of the region, most notably that at Teotihuacan. Kent Flannery is one of THE names in the field of Middle American anthropology and archaeology and the quality of the volume shows why. I am less knowledgeable about Ms Marcus, although the vita provided by the book itself suggests an impressive intellectual treasure here as well. I enjoyed the volume enough to keep it to read another time. A rare kudo, believe me.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book, March 18, 2001

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Tomas Mendizabal (Panama) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved (New Aspects of Antiquity) (Hardcover)

What a good enjoyable book. This is how archaeologists should try to write most of the times. A book on a little known part of MExico, archaeologically, written in plain english. It provides a great overview of the origins and the rise of Zapotec Civilization until the abandonment of its main site at Monte Alban ca 700 AD. It also provides a refreshing new approach called actin theory, viewing history as determined by the actions of real people, not untangible forces of the environment or society. Classic.

5.0 out of 5 stars The best analysis of the Zapotec Civilization, July 17, 2010

By 

Henry J. George (Del Mar, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved (New Aspects of Antiquity) (Hardcover)

This is a scholarly work, but written in standard English rather than in Academese. It provides a clear review of the rise and collapse of the Classic Zapotec Civilization. It is also a case study of the cultural evolution of a society from micro-bands to an empire. It is an excellent publication for anyone interested in the Zapotecs and Oaxaca.