Excavations at san jose british honduras

Excavations at san jose british honduras - J. Eric Thompson

Excavations at San Jose, British Honduras. J. ERIC THOMPSON; with Appendix by Anna 0. Shepard. (Publication 506, Carnegie Institution of Washington, XI, 292 pp., 33 plates, 100 text figures, 18 tables: Washington, 1939.) The first claim this monograph has on any Americanist is its authorship. Mr. Thompson is most widely known as the proponent of a particular correlation of Maya and Christian calendars, as a decipherer of Maya hieroglyphs and chronological texts, and as a student of Indian civilizations in Middle and South America. He is also, however, an ethnographer and dirt archaeologist, and appears to hold that the evidence to be got from modern tribes, from early histories, from hieroglyphic texts, and from excavation must be eventually brought into harmony. This is a final and detailed report on his excavations at a single small Maya “city.” The work was prosecuted partly for Field Museum of Natural History and partly for Carnegie Institution of Washington, in the years 1931, 1934 and 1936. The main headings are : General Considerations; Archilecture; Description of the Ruins; Pottery; Misrellaneous Materials; Caches; Burials; Summary and the Position oj San Jose in Maya History. The first and last will be of general interest and value to all Middle Americanists. The Summary contains chronological tabulations and brings non-Maya areas into the picture. Of general interest also will be Appendix C, an Index of Maya Sites in British Honduras, and Appendix D, Notes on Maya Burial Methods.