Foreword to the Third Edition

Kubler, George

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Foreword to the Third Edition

George Kubler

The Art and Architecture of Ancient America: The Mexican, Maya and Andean Peoples

In revising for the second edition during 1973, my attention was drawn more to new discoveries than now for the third, when a rising interest in inter-regional relationships is apparent. In 1973 dynastic histories were still a centre of attention, but these chronologies are now again clouded by disagreements. Today the main novelty is to use fragmentary archaeological indications to buttress ‘models’ based on Old World parallels of social and economic development. In chronological studies it …

Author

George Kubler

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00123.004

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-14186

Foreword to the Third Edition

In revising for the second edition during 1973, my attention was drawn more to new discoveries than now for the third, when a rising interest in inter-regional relationships is apparent. In 1973 dynastic histories were still a centre of attention, but these chronologies are now again clouded by disagreements. Today the main novelty is to use fragmentary archaeological indications to buttress ‘models’ based on Old World parallels of social and economic development. In chronological studies it is notable that sidereal time, in the sense of firmly dated historical ‘periods’, like centuries, is being substituted for the vaguer and longer ‘stages’ and phases of developmental archaeology.

As to the framework and method of the book, it seemed best to retain the original structure, which reflected an effort to record some of the history of archaeological thought. That effort is continued in the Notes at the end, where older books and articles of merit are cited together with recent work. In effect, the principal changes in Americanist thought do not contradict the positions taken here when the original text was delivered to the publishers in 1959.

The additions to the bibliographical references number nearly 300,* of which a notably higher percentage is by art historians than in 1973. Their effect is noticeable also in the attention now given by social scientists to matters of artistic technique, style, iconography, and expression.

My special thanks are to Hasso von Winning for bibliographical assistance, and to Judy Nairn for keeping the revisions in order. Susan Rose-Smith helped with photographs and drawings.

New Haven, September 1980

* For the 1990 reprint, additional bibliography has been provided in narrative form to bring the coverage up to date (pp. 543–8).

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