Preface
Any reconstruction of the knowledge or belief systems
of a preliterate people must of necessity be at least somewhat
imaginative. Even though our research may have uncovered
what an early people
knew, without an eyewitness description or a written record at hand
we can never really be sure how
they came to know it. What the stimulus or motivation or
accidental discovery may have been that led to such and such an idea
or to this or that custom or practice, we oftentimes can only
speculate. And, in so doing, one is obliged to seek the most
conservative and credible solution possible, while at the same time
realizing that the true explanations for some human thoughts and/or
actions may well border on the bizarre and irrational. This book,
then, is both fact and fiction. In it, I not only recount what I and
other researchers have learned through the decades about the
pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica, and their impressive cultural
achievements, but I also attempt to posit what I hope are rational
hypotheses concerning where, when, and how many of their innovative
breakthroughs and discoveries were actually made. Thus, while most of
the facts I present are immutable, some of my interpretations and
explanations are admittedly conjectural, and the reader is invited to
decide for himself or herself whether more credible answers yet can
be given. This, then, is really an invitation to join me in solving
not one but a whole series of mysteries. As we go along, I will tell
you what the clues are, and give you my best arguments for what the
"motives" may have been. Hopefully, by the time my case has been
made, you -- the jury -- will have been convinced beyond a reasonable
doubt, and can render an impartial verdict, namely that the
pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica were among the most precocious
and ingenious of any on our planet!
Among my companions on this quest into the origins of the
Mesoamerican intellect have been half a generation of field
assistants drawn chiefly from my students at Middlebury and Dartmouth
Colleges. To each and all of them I owe a special debt of thanks for
their patience, understanding, and unflagging good spirit under what
have oftentimes been trying and difficult conditions. Beginning with
Aaron Kiley, they include Linc Cleveland, Rob Walkinshaw, Karin
Malmström, Bruce Keogh, Jay Harter, Paul Dunn, Warren Whitney,
Juan Carlos Navarro, and Alex de Sherbinin. Though the questions of
some of the 100-odd students who took part in my Foreign Study
courses in Mexico through the years helped to guide my own thoughts
into new directions, I must make special mention of at least one,
Sarah Kotchian, whose independent research project led to the
accidental discovery of what was then probably the oldest magnetic
artifact in the world. (Four years later, Paul Dunn became the first
person to recognize the magnetic properties of the yet-older "Fat
Boys.") On some of my later Foreign Study Programs, when I chose not
to both drive and lecture at the same time, I depended on the iron
nerves and steady hands of such stalwart chauffeurs as John Corbett,
Steve Mines, and Tony Hartshorn; to all three of them I say "thanks
again" for bringing all my student charges and me home again in one
piece. To my friend and professional colleague of nearly two decades,
Professor J. Rowland Illick, I owe the warmest of thanks not only for
his cordial and supportive encouragement through the years but also
for his valuable participation in my final field program sponsored by
Middlebury College in 1975.
Fortunately, my change of venue to Dartmouth College resulted in increased interest in and expanded support of my Mesoamerican research from both administrative and alumni quarters. Professor of history Gregory Prince, then provost at Dartmouth and now president of Hampshire College, became an energetic proponent of my hypotheses and was instrumental in introducing me to Dartmouth alumnus Guido R. Rahr Jr. of Minneapolis, whose strong dedication to the cause of geography is matched by his deep commitment to Native American Studies. Because both of his "loves" happened to come together in my research, Guido Rahr made a generous financial gift to Dartmouth, establishing a Mexico-oriented field program in the Department of Geography. I also owe a special word of thanks to Dartmouth alumnus Robert C. Dorion of Guatemala, whose financial support made possible, among other things, one of my wide-ranging "expeditions" to South America and Polynesia. Without such assistance I could never have carried out the research described in the following pages.
As these various field studies culminated in a growing series of journal articles, the idea was born to incorporate my findings into a single comprehensive volume. It is to Shannon Davies of the University of Texas Press that I owe the inspiration for preparing this book; as my sponsoring editor, she successfully shepherded the manuscript between the Scylla and Charybdis of editorial committees and critical reviewers with tireless patience, good humor, and energetic determination. I am deeply grateful to her. To John Clark of Brigham Young University's Department of Anthropology and Archaeology I owe a special debt of gratitude for his careful reading and critical evaluation of the manuscript at the earliest stages of its preparation. And to Deborah Nichols, a colleague in Dartmouth's Department of Anthropology, I wish to express thanks for helping me to update my acquaintance with the recent literature and philosophical trends of a sister discipline. Without their help, the completion of this book would not have been realized. I alone am responsible for any shortcomings which the finished volume may have.
By the same token, without the patient, long-suffering forebearance of a tolerant and forgiving wife, my many seemingly capricious forays into jungle, mountain, and desert would never have been possible. For the many months of absence and neglect which my obsession with the sacred calendar has occasioned her, I can only apologize belatedly -- and lovingly dedicate this book to Ruth.
Hanover, New Hampshire
December 1995