Offering an alternative to traditional textbooks, Mesoamerican Archaeology: Theory and Practice places the reader in the middle of contemporary debates by top archaeologists actively exploring the major prehispanic societies of Central America. Offers a comprehensive introduction to the archaeology of Mesoamerica by focusing on key time periods, sites, and the issues these times and places require us to confront. Examines key moments in the Mesoamerican historical tradition, from the earliest villages where Olmec art flourished, to the Aztec and Maya City-states that Spanish invaders described in the 16th century. Engages the chronological benchmarks of precolumbian social development in Mesoamerica, such as the transition to village life, emergence of political stratification, and formation of Mesoamerican urban centers. Includes an extensive introduction by the editors that situates contemporary Mesoamerican archaeology in the broader terms of the social politics of archaeology.For further resources to use with this book - including study questions, maps and photographs - visit the website at www.blackwellpublishing.com/BSGA/mesoam

Julia A. Hendon is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Gettysburg College. She is a Maya archaeologist with field experience since 1980 in Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, and is the former editor of Anthropological Literature: An Index to Periodical Articles and Essays (1988–1996).

Rosemary A. Joyce is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been engaged in archaeological fieldwork in Honduras since 1977. Her most recent publications include: Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica (2001), The Languages of Archaeology (2002), and Embodied Lives: Egypt and the Ancient Maya (editor, with Lynn Meskell, 2003).