Hailed as the finest museum of anthropology and archaeology in the Western Hemisphere, the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City houses the world's most impressive collection of pre-Columbian Mexican art,including sculpture, painting and pottery.

 Hailed as the finest museum of anthropology and archaeology in the Western Hemisphere, the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City houses the world"s most impressive collection of pre-Columbian Mexican art,including sculpture, painting and pottery. Since its founding in 1964, the museum has been dedicated to the study and display of existing artifacts;in recent years, it has led the field in using progressive technology such as digitized satellite imagery and CT-scanning to explore previously unstudied sites and open newwindows of understanding in archaeology. In the past ten years alone, the National Museum of Anthropology has sponsored the exploration of fourteen new archaeological zones, revealing dues and treasures that contribute considerably to knowledge of the respective regions and their importance during their historical peak. At once a reflection of and an influence on Mexico"s national identity;, the work of the Museum has fostered the development of a unified Mexican identity from an ancient heritage of diverse indigenous populations.

 Published to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the museum"s founding,this elegant and authoritative volume explores both the museum"s collection and its role as a national cultural institution. Included among the 450 illustrations, many of them new photographs taken especially for this book,are pre- Columbian masterpieces such as Mixtec gold pendants worn to evoke the souls of fallen warriors, two-headed clay figurines associated with the Mesoamerican concept of the duality of life, utilitarian vessels carved from obsidian in the form of indigenous animals and intricate jade masks placed in burial sites. An array of curators and scholars contribute essays on the Mexica(Aztec), Maya and Toltec peoples; clues about life in the ancient Toltec metropolis of Tula and in nearby Teotihuacan; the contemporary ethnography of Mexico to and the historical background of the site, construction and architecture of the museum itself. This landmark publication is both an introduction to and a complete documentation of one of the world"s great museums.

FLOWING WITH  HISTORY FORTY YEARS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY

THE RISE OF CRADLES OF CIVILIZATION

THE MUSEUM FORTY YEARS AGO

ADVENTURES AND MISADVENTURES OF

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY"S COLLECTIONS

ARCHAEOLOGY

1964-2004 FOUR DECADES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH

ORIGINS

PRECLASSIC

TEOT1HUACAN

TOLTECS

MEXlCAS

OAXACA

GULF COAST OF MEXICO

MAYAS

WEST MEXICO

NORTHERN  MEXICO

ETHNOGRAPHY

ETHNOGRAPHIC SONATA IN NO FLAT

MEXICO"S INDIGENOUS GROUPS

EL GRAN NAYAR CORAS AND HUICHOLS

OTOPAMEAN GROUPS

THE SIERRA DE PUEBLA

THE GULF OF MEXICO

MAYA PEOPLES

PUREPECHAS

OAXACA

NAHUAS

NORTHWESTERN  MEXICO

CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE MUSEUM

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS