Archaeological research in Mesoamerica, born almost a century ago, is fast becoming a subject for historical studies, most of which deal with swashbuckling adventures in the bush of southern Mexico and the Maya area, or with the development of archaeological ideas and techniques. Thomas Joyce’s summary, first published in 1914, has become a part of the history of prehistory in Mesoamerica, and the value of the reprint edition lies almost solely in this area. No work half a century old, nor in fact one published as little as twenty years ago, can be expected to mirror modem understanding of and approaches to the prehistory of complex Mesoamerican civilizations; read as a piece of history, however, such a work can be highly illuminating.
Joyce’s summary came at a time when much surface exploration and very little controlled excavation had been carried out. He was forced, therefore, to focus on ethno-historic data for his reconstructions of prehistory, adding bits of information on objects and structures where possible. Archaeology as such is rarely present in the summary, principally because the approach to such matters remained largely antiquarian in Joyce’s day. He does, however, present some conclusions regarding inter-relationships in Mesoamerica which remain valid today. On the other hand, Joyce’s “Provisional Scheme of Dating” (Appendix III), close to that of H. J. Spinden in several respects, is now generally viewed as running counter to archaeological evidence which was, of course, unavailable in the early decades of this century.
Mexican Archaeology cannot now be used as a textbook, but it might serve well in a course on the development of thought amongst Mesoamericanists. What is more, much of it remains highly interesting and readable today, something which cannot always be said of some of the later, more scientifically accurate works in the field.
