Ancient Road Networks and Settlement Hierarchies in the New World

by Charles D. Trombold (Editor)

Overview

The presence of ancient road networks in the New World is a puzzle, because they predate the use of wheeled transport vehicles. But whatever their diverse functions may have been, they remain the only tangible indication of how extinct American societies were regionally organised. Contributors to this volume, originally published in 1991, describe past studies of prehispanic roads in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central and South America, paying special attention to their significance for economic and political organisation, as well as regional communication.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521189804
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/03/2011
Series:	New Directions in Archaeology
Pages:	298
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.70(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

List of contributors; List of tables; List of figures; Acknowledgements; Editor's preface; Section I. Theoretical Considerations: 1. An introduction to the study of ancient New World road networks Charles D. Trombold; 2. Paths and roads in evolutionary perspective Timothy Earle; 3. Roads, routes and ties that bind Ross Hassig; 4. Observations about research on prehistoric roads in South America John Hyslop; Section II. Methodological Considerations: 5. Photointerpretation of Chaco Roads Margaret S. Obenauf; 6. Analysis of prehistoric roadways in Chaco Canyon using remotely sensed digital data Thomas L. Sever and David W. Wagner; 7. Prehistoric footpaths in Costa Rica: transportation and communication in a tropical rainforest Payson Sheets and Thomas L. Sever; 8. Cross-cutting relationships: the relative dating of ancient roads on the north coast of Peru Colleen M. Beck; 9. Network analysis and the study of past regional organisation Larry J. Gorenflo and Thomas L. Bell; Section III. Regional Studies: 10. Political, economic, and demographic implications of the Chaco road network Frances Joan Mathien; 11. The prehistoric road network at Pueblo Alto, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico Thomas C. Windes; 12. The Sonoran connection: road and trail networks in the prehistoric period Carroll L. Riley, and Joni L. Manson; 13. Causeways in the context of strategic planning in the La Quemada region, Zacatecas, Mexico Charles D. Trombold; 14. Xanhari: protohistoric Tarascan routes Shirley Gorenstien and Helen Perlstein Pollard; 15. The influence and legacy of Teotihuacan on regional routes and urban planning Thomas H. Charlton; 16. The structure of the Aztec transport network Robert S. Santley; 17. Roads, thoroughfares and avenues of power at Xochicalco, Mexico Kenneth Hirth; 18. Sacbes of the northern Maya William J. Folan; 19. Prehistoric roads and causeways of lowland tropical America William M. Denevan; 20. The association between roads and polities: evidence for a Wari road system in Peru Katharina J. Schrieber; 21. The Chincha roads: economics and symbolism Dwight T. Wallace.