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In 1532, the fifty-four-year-old Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro led a force of 167 men, including his four brothers, to the shores of Peru. Unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Inca rulers of Peru had just fought a bloody civil war in which the emperor Atahualpa had defeated his brother Huascar. Pizarro and his men soon clashed with Atahualpa and a huge force of Inca warriors at the Battle of Cajamarca. Despite being outnumbered by more than two hundred to one, the Spaniards prevailed -- due largely to their horses, their steel armor and swords, and their tactic of surprise. They captured and imprisoned Atahualpa. Although the Inca emperor paid an enormous ransom in gold, the Spaniards executed him anyway. The following year, the Spaniards seized the Inca capital of Cuzco, completing their conquest of the largest native empire the New World has ever known. Peru was now a Spanish colony, and the conquistadors were wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.

But the Incas did not submit willingly. A young Inca emperor, the brother of Atahualpa, soon led a massive rebellion against the Spaniards, inflicting heavy casualties and nearly wiping out the conquerors. Eventually, however, Pizarro and his men forced the emperor to abandon the Andes and flee to the Amazon. There, he established a hidden capital, called Vilcabamba. Although the Incas fought a deadly, thirty-six-year-long guerrilla war, the Spanish ultimately captured the last Inca emperor and vanquished the native resistance.

Kim MacQuarrie lived in Peru for five years and became fascinated by the Incas and the history of the Spanish conquest. Drawing on both native and Spanish chronicles, he vividly describes the dramatic story of the conquest, with all its savagery and suspense. MacQuarrie also relates the story of the modern search for Vilcabamba, of how Machu Picchu was discovered, and of how a trio of colorful American explorers only recently discovered the lost Inca capital of Vilcabamba, hidden for centuries in the Amazon.

This authoritative, exciting history is among the most powerful and important accounts of the culture of the South American Indians and the Spanish Conquest..
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In this landmark work on the Anasazi tribes of the Southwest, naturalist Craig Childs dives head on into the mysteries of this vanished people.


The various tribes that made up the Anasazi people converged on Chaco Canyon (New Mexico) during the 11th century to create a civilization hailed as "the Las Vegas of its day," a flourishing cultural center that attracted pilgrims from far and wide, and a vital crossroads of the prehistoric world. By the 13th century, however, Chaco's vibrant community had disappeared without a trace.


Was it drought? Pestilence? War? Forced migration, mass murder or suicide? Conflicting theories have abounded for years, capturing the North American imagination for eons.

Join Craig Childs as he draws on the latest scholarly research, as well as a lifetime of exploration in the forbidden landscapes of the American Southwest, to shed new light on this compelling mystery. He takes us from Chaco Canyon to the highlands of Mesa Verde, to the Mongollon Rim; to a contemporary Zuni community where tribal elders maintain silence about the fate of their Lost Others; and to the largely unexplored foothills of the Sierra Madre in Mexico, where abundant remnants of Anasazi culture lie yet to be uncovered.



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The Mayan Calendar may well provide the basis for the understanding of creation In this extraordinary publication, Carl Calleman shows us how the Mayan Calendar combines science and sprituality to unlock the secrets of the universe and provide clues to the future of mankind..
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In 1532, when Pizarro conquered Peru, the Inca realm was one of the largest empires on earth, graced by gold masterpieces, towns with great palaces and temples, and an impressive network of roads. But this glittering culture only obscured the rich and diverse civilizations that had preceded it: Chavin, Moche, Nazca, Tiwanaku, Huari, and Chimú. Described as a "masterly study" and an "outstanding volume" on its first publication, The Incas and Their Ancestors quickly established itself as the best general introduction to the cultures and civilizations of ancient Peru. Now this classic text has been fully updated for the revised edition. New discoveries over the last decade are integrated throughout. The occupation of Peru's desert coast can now be traced back to 12,000 BC and ensuing maritime adaptations are examined in early littoral societies that mummified their dead and others that were mound builders. The spread of Andean agriculture is related to fresh data on climate, and protracted drought is identified as a recurrent contributor to the rise and fall of civilizations in the Cordillera. The results of recent excavations enliven understanding of coastal Moche and Nazca societies and the ancient highland states of Huari and Tiwanaku. Architectural models accompanying burials provide fresh interpretations of the palaces of imperial Chan Chan, while the origins of the Incas are given new clarity by a spate of modern research on America's largest native empire. 225 b/w illustrations..
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This wide-ranging survey has established itself as the best single-volume introduction to Andean art and architecture. Now fully revised, it describes the strikingly varied artistic achievements of the Chavín, Paracas, Moche, Chimú, and Inca cultures, among others. Their impressive cities, tall pyramids, shining goldwork, and intricate textiles constitute one of the greatest artistic traditions in history.

For the second edition, Rebecca Stone-Miller has added new material covering the earliest mummification in the world at Chinchorros, wonderful new Moche murals and architectural reconstructions, the latest finds from the Chachapoyas culture, and a greater emphasis on shamanism. Throughout, Stone-Miller demonstrates how the Andean peoples adapted and refined their aesthetic response to an extremely inhospitable environment. 185 illustrations, 35 in color..
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"The ideal reference on Maya archaeology." —Science News

Behind the ancient cities of the Maya and their abandoned artworks lie the turbulent stories of their ruling dynasties. One of the world's greatest and most powerful civilizations, the Maya experienced constant conflict in a landscape divided among numerous kingdoms. Intense rivalries, rapacious conquerors, and repeated dynastic defeat and breakdown are common themes in many tales of this mighty civilization.

The ancient Maya remain one of the most vibrant areas of study in world archaeology. Fresh discoveries in the field, together with the ongoing process of hieroglyphic decipherment, mean that information is constantly coming to light. This new version of the only comprehensive, kingdom-by-kingdom history of the ancient Maya brings the story fully up to date with previously unknown rulers and new glyphic readings, as well as additional information on diplomacy and warfare. 366 illustrations, 86 in color..
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A special illustrated edition of Hiram Bingham's classic work captures all the magnificence and mystery of the amazing archeological sites he uncovered. Early in the 20th century, Bingham ventured into the wild and then unknown country of the Eastern Peruvian Andes--and in 1911 came upon the fabulous Inca city that made him famous: Machu Picchu. In the space of one short season he went on to discover two more lost cities, including Vitcos, where the last Incan Emperor was assassinated.
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Does Colorado's Grand Canyon hide an ancient city found by a Smithsonian Institution photographer?
Did the Vikings beat Columbus to the New World using a fiber-optic navigational instrument?
Who built a colossal water reservoir in Iowa long before the first European settlers arrived?
What secret have the "Giants of the California Desert" preserved for more than a thousand years?

These are just some of the intriguing questions posed and answered by expert researchers in Unearthing Ancient America. They go on to tackle a broad variety of archaeological enigmas shunned as too heretical for consideration by conventional scholars--a Roman figurine found off the New Jersey coast, North African gold in Illinois from a long-vanished kingdom, an Egyptian knife removed from a centuries-old tree in California, a fifth century Christian church in Connecticut, a prehistoric harbor underwater in the Bahamas, Easter Island's cultural connections with pre-modern Japan, and voyagers to Maine from Stone Age Scotland.

Unearthing Ancient America contains a wealth of fresh, occasionally suppressed evidence documenting the tremendous impact made on our continent by overseas visitors hundreds and even thousands of years before Columbus. The disclosures presented here re-write the prehistory of our country and provide a dramatic panorama of the past you never imagined before.

The distinguished list of contributing writers to Unearthing Ancient America includes:
* Wayne May, founder and publisher of Ancient American magazine
* Gunnar Thompson, PhD, author of American Discovery
* Nobuhiro Yoshida, language professor from the University of Kyushu
* William Donato, the world's leading authority on the "Bimini Road"
* David Hatcher Childress, founder of The World Explorers Club and head of Adventures Unlimited Press.
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