Ancient Mexico - Playa Del Carmen

There are thousands of studies of ancient Mexico , many of them extremely academic and detailed, plus any number of big, highly illustrated coffee-table tomes on individual sites. Those below are of more general interest, and any of them will have substantial bibliographies to help you explore further.

Ignacio Bernal , Mexico Before Cortés (Doubleday, US, o/p). The leading Mexican archeologist of the twentieth century, and one of the inspirations behind the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Bernal did important work on the Olmecs and on the restoration of Teotihuacán, and has written many important source works. This book covers much the same ground as Davies', though in less detail and more dated, but it has the advantage of being widely available in Mexico. A more scholarly version is available in A History of Mexican Archeology: The Vanished Civilizations of Middle America (Thames & Hudson, o/p).

Warwick Bray , Everyday Life of the Aztecs (P. Bedrick). A volume full of information about Aztec warfare, music, games, folklore, religious ritual, social organization, economic and political systems and agricultural practice. Although the book is now showing its age, and some of its conclusions are a bit dubious, its attractive comprehensiveness more than makes up for this. An excellent general introduction.

Inga Clendinnen , Aztecs: An Interpretation (CUP). A social history of the Aztec empire that seeks to explain the importance - and acceptance - of human sacrifice and other rituals. Fascinating, though best to know something about the Aztecs before you start.

Mirhael D. Coe , The Maya (Thames & Hudson). The updated sixth edition is the best available general introduction to the Maya: concise, clear and comprehensive. Coe has also written several more weighty, academic volumes. His Breaking the Maya Code (Thames & Hudson), a history of the decipherment of the Maya glyphs, owes much to the fact that Coe was present at many of the most important meetings leading to the breakthrough, demonstrating that the glyphs actually did reproduce Maya speech. Aside from anything else, it is a beautifully written, ripping yarn, though the slagging-off of Eric Thompson gets a bit wearisome.

Nigel Davies , The Ancient Kingdoms of Mexico (Viking). Although there's no single text that covers all the ancient cultures, this comes pretty close, covering the central areas from the Olmecs through Teotihuacán and the Toltecs to the Aztec empire. An excellent mix of historical, archeological, social and artistic information, but it doesn't cover the Maya. Davies is also the author of several more-detailed academic works on the Aztecs and Toltecs, including The Aztecs, A History (U Oklahoma).

M.S. Edmonson (trans), The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel (Aegean, US, o/p). The Chilam Balam is a recollection of Maya history and myth, recorded by the Spanish after the Conquest. Although the style is not easy, it's one of the few keys into the Maya view of the world.

George Kubler , Art and Architecture of Ancient America (Yale UP). Exactly what it says: a massive and amazingly comprehensive work, covering not only Mexico but Colombia, Ecuador and Peru as well. It's rather old-fashioned, however, and fails to take into account the ground-breaking epigraphic findings in Maya scholarship.

Diego de Landa , Yucatán Before and After the Conquest (Dover). A translation edited by William Gates of the work written in 1566 as Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán . De Landas destruction of almost all original Maya books as "works of the devil" leaves his own account as the chief source on Maya life and society in the immediate post-Conquest period. Written during his imprisonment in Spain on charges of cruelty to the Indians (remarkable itself, given the institutional brutality of the time) the book provides a fascinating wealth of detail for historians.

Maria Loiighena , Splendours of Ancient Mexico (Thames & Hudson, UK). Sumptuously illustrated coffee-table tome, with better than average text (translated from the Italian original) and excellent pictures and plans of all the major ancient sites.

Mary Ellen Miller   The Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec (Thames & Hudson, UK). An excellent, wonderfully illustrated survey of the artisanship of the ancient cultures of Mexico, whose work reflects the sophistication of their civilizations.

Mary Ellen Miller and Karl Taube   The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion (Thames & Hudson). A superb modern reference on ancient Mesoamerica, written by two leading scholars. Taube's Aztec and Maya Myths (British Museum Press) is perfect as a short, accessible introduction to Mesoamerican mythology.

Chris Morton and Ceri Louise Thomas , The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls (Thorsons, UK) Intriguing and accessible investigation into an ancient Amerindian legend that tells of a number of life-size crystal skulls said to contain vital information about the destiny of mankind. Following the discovery that such a skull actually exists, filmmakers Morton and Thomas set off on a journey through Mexico and Central America, meeting experts in Maya culture, archeologists and modern-day shamans and finally coming to their own well-researched and thoughtful conclusions.

Jeremy A. Sabloff , Cities of Ancient Mexico (Thames & Hudson). The best introduction to ancient Mexico currently available. Thoroughly up to date and easy to digest. Also worth checking is his New Archeology and the Ancient Maya (WH Freeman).

Linda Schele, David Freidel et al . The authors, in the forefront of the "new archeology", have been personally responsible for decoding many of the glyphs, revolutionizing and popularizing Maya studies. Although their writing style, which frequently includes re-creations of scenes inspired by their discoveries, is controversial to some fellow professionals it has also inspired a devoted following. A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya (Quill, US) in conjunction with The Blood of Kings , by Linda Schele and Mary Miller, shows that far from being governed by peaceful astronomer-priests, the ancient Maya were ruled by hereditary kings, lived in populous, aggressive city-states, and engaged in a continuous entanglement of alliances and war. The Maya Cosmos (Quill, US), by Schele, Freidel and Joy Parker is perhaps more difficult to read, dense with copious notes, but continues to examine Maya ritual and religion in a unique and far-reaching way. The Code of Kings (Touchstone, US), written in collaboration with Peter Matthews and illustrated with Justin Kerr's famous "rollout" photography of Maya ceramics, examines in detail the significance of the monuments at selected Maya sites. It's her last book - Linda Schele died in April 1998 - and sure to become a classic of epigraphic interpretation.

Robert Sharer , The Ancient Maya (Stanford UP). The classic, comprehensive (and weighty) account of Maya civilization, now in a completely revised and much more readable fifth edition, yet as authoritative as ever. Required reading for archeologists, it provides a fascinating reference for the non-expert.

Dennis Tedlock (trans), Popol Vuh (Touchstone). Translation of the Maya Quiché bible, a fascinating creation myth from the only ancient civilization to emerge from rainforest terrain. The Maya obsession with time can be well appreciated here, where dates are recorded with painstaking precision.

J. Eric S. Thompson , The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization (Pimlico /University of Oklahoma, o/p). A major authority on the ancient Maya during his lifetime, Thompson produced many academic works; The Rise and Fall &, originally published in 1954, is one of the more approachable. Although more recent researchers have overturned many of Thompson's theories, his work provided the inspiration for the postwar surge of interest in the Maya, and he remains a respected figure.

Ptolemy Tompkins , This Tree Grows Out of Hell (HarperCollins, o/p). An interesting attempt to piece together the mystery of Mesoamerican religion, which synthesizes and makes readable many of the recent findings in the area. The latter half of the book is a thoroughly unconvincing apology for the brutality of the Aztecs.

Richard F. Townsend , The Aztecs (Thames & Hudson). Companion in the series to Goes Maya book, this is a good introduction to all aspects of Aztec history and culture.