| View Larger Image | Valley of the Spirits: A Journey Into the Lost Realm of the Aymara | Hardcoverby Alan L. Kolata (Author)
| List Price: | $35.00 | | Price: | $29.94 | | You Save: | $5.06 (14%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | Wiley | | Page Count: | 288 Pages | | Publication Date: | March 01, 1996 | | Sales Rank: | 834,960th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
In a secluded valley high in the Andes Mountains, long before the time of the Incas and the Aztecs, the empire of the Aymara rose from the shores of Lake Titicaca and flourished for nearly a thousand years. The secrets of the Aymara civilization, one of the first great empires of the Americas, have only recently been deciphered from the haunting ruins of their splendid temples, among which their contemporary descendants still live and work today. In Valley of the Spirits, Alan Kolata takes us deep into the mystical world of the Aymara, where past and present come together and the spirits of ancient ancestors still speak to shamans in the voices of mountain springs. Kolata's unique knowledge of the Aymara is based on 17 years of research at the site of the ancient empire. Its crown jewel was the dazzling ancient capital of Tiahuanaco, whose gold and silver-appointed temples and "monumental stone sculptures intensified the mythic aura of the city, imbuing it with a quality of the supernatural." From A.D. 400-1100, it was the spiritual center of the Andean world. According to Aymara myth, the creator god Viracocha brought man to life from the springs and rocks of Tiahuanaco's sacred landscape. The city's rich symbolism linked man inextricably to the majestic plan—and the cyclical fates—of nature. Royal priests performed elaborate animal and human sacrifices and buried human trophy heads and the mummified remains of Aymara kings in lavish religious pageants. So impressive was the legacy of Tiahuanaco that the Inca rulers claimed descent from the Aymara kings more than 500 years after the empire's mysterious catastrophic demise. Kolata deciphers the mysteries of the ancient monuments, from the massive Akapana pyramid, the symbol of sacred mountains, and of fertility and abundance, to the imposing archway known as the Gateway of the Sun, among the most exquisite artistic monuments of the ancient Americas. And he takes us into the contemporary world of the Aymara as well, where shamans recite the names of ancestral spirits in a hypnotic protocol of remembrance and homage to Lady Earth and Lord Sky. "To anyone fascinated by the total experience of humans, to anyone who wishes to go beyond the familiar world, to anyone wanting to push the envelope of their own perceptions, a sojourn into the mind and history of the Aymara is disturbing, exhilarating, and ultimately unforgettable."—Alan Kolata, in his Introduction to Valley of the Spirits |
Amazon.com Review
A millennium before the Incas built their empire, the city of Tiahuanaco sat at the center of a great empire of its own. Located on Lake Titicaca, the world's highest at 13,000 feet, in what is now Bolivia, at the very limits of agriculture, the people of Tiahuanaco developed an ingenious system of cultivation based on raised planting beds alternating with trenches that served as irrigation ditches. From A.D. 400 to 800, the temples of Tiahuanaco glittered with gold and the empire supported as many as 250,000 people. Kolata, who has spent more than 17 years excavating the empire's ruins, weaves together the story of Tiahuanaco and the region's modern inhabitants, the Aymara. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 4 reviews)
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Archeology rocks!  5 Stars
January 28, 2001
I think this is my favorite book I've read about South America before and after a trip there. The author introduces us to the people who live there and are his friends. We get to see how Tiawanaku looked when it was in use and learn about customs and traditions which live today. The project to re-introduce ancient agricultural practices of raised beds and irrigation, was exciting. We were kept on the edge of our seat waiting to see if a freeze killed the crop and put the population in jeopardy. A real armchair trip to Bolivia!
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Spirit of the Aymara 5 Stars
January 27, 2001
If you can't go to Bolivia, this is the next best thing. The archeological information about Tiawanaku is fascinating. The cultural information regarding the Aymara is great too. But, my favorite part was the project to reintroduce abandoned agricultural practices to the area. Much larger populations were supported in ancient times due to the micromanagement of climate using irrigation and raised fields. And it was dramatically demonstrated that it works in this book! Good reading!
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Valley of the Spirits by Atheen M. Wilson (Mpls, MN United States) 5 Stars
March 13, 2000
I really enjoyed this book and have since read further volumes on South American Indian cultures because of it. Written by the primary researcher at Tiahuanaco, Alan Kolata, the text covers the origin of the earliest pre-Inca highland civilization, the Ayamara. So impressive was the legacy of this people to their successors that the Inca themselves sought to legitimize their claim to empire by seeking to place their roots at this site. I found Kolata's successful test of his economic hypothesis regarding population density and farming methods (by the reintroduction of raised bed and canal farming at altitude) especially profound. It certainly made abundantly apparent the pertinance of modern day archaeology, not only to the preservation of the world's ancient inheritance but to the material well being of modern populations as well. This book is a good place to start for anyone with an interest in ancient South American cultures and to applied archaeology.
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this is a fine book 5 Stars
April 10, 1997
I'm an Egyptologist, but I like to read outside my own field. This excellent summary of years of work in the field was a real joy. It was exciting to read of a culture "done in" by a change in climate (we think this also happened in ancient Egypt!), and heartwarming to read of ancient irrigation technology revived to help people today. I feel this book is a must for anyone who cares about the past . . . and people today
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