Prehistoric games of North American Indians : Subarctic to Mesoamerica / edited by Barbara Voorhies.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Voorhies, Barbara, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indians of North America--Games.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--Sports.

Genre:

Games.

Physical Description:

xvi, 369 pages : illlustrations, maps ; 27 cm

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City : The University of Utah Press, [2017]

Summary:

Prehistoric Games of North American Indians is a collection of studies on the ancient games of indigenous peoples of North America. The authors, all archaeologists, muster evidence from artifacts, archaeological features, ethnography, ethnohistory and to a lesser extent linguistics and folklore. Studies may center on a particular game (chunkey rolling disc game or patolli dice game, for example), on a specific prehistoric society and its games (Aztec acrobatic games, games of the ancient Fremont people), or, in one instance, on the relationship between slavery and gaming in ancient North American societies. In addition to the intrinsic value of pursuing the time depth of these games, some of which remain popular and culturally important today the book is important for demonstrating a variety of research methods and for problematizing an overlooked research topic. Issues that emerge include the apparently ubiquitous but difficult-to-detect presence of gambling, the entanglement of indigenous games and the social logic of the societies in which they are embedded, the characteristics of women's versus men's games or those of in-group and out-group gaming, and the close correspondence between gaming and religion. The book's coverage is broad and balanced in terms of geography, level of socio-cultural organization, and gender. Book jacket.

Contents:

Why waltes was a woman's game / Kevin Leonard

Playing the Apalachee ballgame in the fields of the thunder god : archaeological and ideological evidence for its antiquity / J. Grant Stauffer and F. Kent Reilly III

"He must die unless the whole country shall play crosse" : the role of gaming in Great Lakes indigenous societies / Ronald F. Williamson and Martin S. Cooper

Chunkey and the historic experience in the Mississippian world / Thomas J. Zych

The sacred role of dice games in eastern North America : implications for the protohistoric lower Mississippi Valley / David H. Dye

Reinventing the wheel game : prestige gambling on the Plains/Plateau frontier / Gabriel M. Yanicki

Gaming in Fremont society / Joel C. Janetski

Mobility, exchange, and the fluency of games : promontory in a broader sociodemographic setting / Gabriel M. Yanicki and John W. Ives

Social aspects of an Apachean stave-dice gaming feature at Three Sisters / Deni J. Seymour

Serious play in the preclassic : the Chalcatzingo figurines as guides in a game of social learning / Mark E. Harlan

Ancient Maya patolli / John Walden and Barbara Voorhies

Sport and ritual as social bonding : the communal nature of Mesoamerican ballgames / Marijke Maurine Stoll and David S. Anderson

Acrobatic dances and games of Mesoamerica as ritual-entertainment / Gerardo Guitiérrez

Aztec gambling and magical thinking / Susan T. Evans

The biggest losers : gambling and enslavement in Native North America / Catherine M. Cameron and Lindsay D. Johansson

Post-game remarks / Warren R. DeBoer.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Prehistoric games of North American Indians.

ISBN:

9781607815594

1607815591

OCLC:

969852643