In the shadow of Quetzalcoatl : Zelia Nuttall and the search for Mexico's ancient civilizations
(Book)
Author
Published
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023.
Format
Book
Physical Desc
xiv, 380 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Status
Description
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Location | Call Number | Note | Status |
---|---|---|---|
Main Library - New Books | 972.018 Gri | Hardcover | On Hold Shelf |
More Details
Published
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023.
Language
English
Notes
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description
Where do human societies come from? The drive to answer this question took on a new urgency in the nineteenth century, when a generation of archaeologists began to look beyond the bible for the origins of different cultures and civilizations. A child of the San Francisco Gold Rush whose mother was born in Mexico City, Zelia Nuttall threw herself into the study of Aztec customs and cosmology, eager to use the tools of the emerging science of anthropology to prove that modern Mexico was built over the ruins of ancient civilizations. Proud, disciplined, as prickly as she was independent, Zelia Nuttall was the first person to accurately decode the Aztec calendar stone. An intrepid researcher, she found pre-Columbian texts lost in European archives and was skilled at making sense of their pictographic histories. Her work on the terra-cotta heads of Teotihuacán captured the attention of Frederic Putnam, who offered her a job at Harvard's Peabody Museum. Divorced and juggling motherhood and career, Nuttall chose to follow her own star, publishing her discoveries and collecting artifacts for US museums to make ends meet. From her beloved Casa Alvarado in Coyoacán, she became a vital bridge between Mexican and US anthropologists, connecting them against the backdrop of war and revolution. The first biography of Zelia Nuttall, In the Shadow of Quetzalcoatl captures the appeal and contradictions that riddled the life of this trailblazing woman, who contributed so much to the new field of anthropology until a newly professionalized generation overshadowed her remarkable achievements and she became, in the end, an artifact in her own museum. -- dust jacket
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