36 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
Epistolario de la Nueva Espaiia, p. 19). A
few quotes are given without sources at all
(pp. 27-28, probably from the Archivo
General de la Nacion).
The second part of the text gives a
socio-political history of the general area of
the lienzos from the Toltec migrations
through the Mexican Revolution. This is
effective in giving a background for the
motivation for the codices, their subsequent
copies, and their preservation. Occasionally
these insights are obscured where the data
appears forced to fit the author’s argument,
as in the pre-Conquest description.
One would like to find in the text: a
comparison with other pictorial documents,
a specific consideration of style, and most
importantly, the dimensions of each of the
lienzos. Lacking also are specific references
from the text to the photographs in spite of
the numerous detail closeups. When mention
is made of a glyph or a motif the reader
must hunt for it, keeping in mind the
mislabeling of five of the six lienzos.
The unnumbered plates are presented
according to the Local, Regional, and Large
designation. Each lienzo (sometimes as a
foldout) is followed by from four to twelve
closeups of various sizes. Seemingly, the
details were selected without regard to the
text. They could have been aided by a
diagram indicating their location on each
lienzo.
Pagination of the photographs is
confused. Only ten pages are numbered, and
if the numbers given are accepted, four pages
have been missed. It would seem reasonable,
to keep future references to plates clear, if
these ten printed page numbers were ignored
and new pagination entered by hand
beginning with page [lll] on thepage
entitled “Los Lienzos” and ending with page
[ 2211 on the last plate.
This book is a valuable contribution to
the anthropology and ethnohistory of an area
that has received insufficient attention. I t is
a luxury volume of high quality that
enhances the import of the lienzos.
Reference Cited
Barlow, R.H.
1946 The Tamiahua Codices, Notes on
Middle American Archaeology and
Ethnology, No. 64. Carnegie Institu-
tion of Washington.
[ 74,19721
Kultura Drevnikh Maya. R. V.
KINZHALOV. Leningrad: Nauka, 1971.
364 pp., illustrations, bibliography,
index. 1.91 Rubles.
Reviewed by
TATIANA PROSKOURIAKOFF
Carnegie Institition of Washington
By far the greatest number of studies on
Maya culture are published in Spanish or in
English, and among general summaries,
Morley and Brainerd’s The Ancient Maya,
Thompson’s The Rise and Fall of Maya
Civilization, and M. D. Coe’s The Maya are
the three most often recommended both to
students and to the public. The book re-
viewed here, written by a member of the
Institute of Ethnography of the Academy of
Sciences USSR, could rank among them
were it not for one extraordinary paragraph
in which the author imputes to universities
and institutions of the United States ulterior
motives in pursuing archeological work in
Mesoamerica and accuses American archeo-
logists of exporting valuable antiquities. We
are accustomed to hearing sundry dispara-
ging remarks emanating from the Soviet
Union, and they are automatically dis-
counted here and abroad, but t o find such
serious and baseless allegations included in a
book which otherwise carries the authority
of a sincere and scholarly work leaves one
aghast. In this country, remarks of this sort
would completely destroy a scholar’s
reputation, but until our Russian colleagues
are permitted to mingle freely with the
world community of scholars, perhaps we
should try to temper judgment with com-
miseration.
The author has not worked in the Maya
area and has had little personal contact with
archeologists. He has compiled his material
entirely from literary sources, but he
presents it in such an urusual way that the
book is nevertheless an original contribution
in its own right. It is in no sense a
popularization of the subject. There are no
1i t e ra ry e m be1 I i shments, digressions,
anecdotes, or flights of fancy to beguile the
reader. Nor are there any speculations to
give the book an individual bias. The subject
matter is well balanced, and virtually every
important statement is documented by a
bibliographic reference that guides the
reader to further study on whatever subject
 E T H N (9LOGY
may interest him. Although the tight
organization of the whole gives it the char-
acter of a source-book, the text flows
smoothly and commands attention through-
out, and this unusual combination of
erudition and literacy makes it stand out
from other books of its kind, which in-
variably predigest their material for the
layman.
In the first chapter, the author covers in
detail our sources of information about the
Maya and recounts the history of early
explorations and of later archeological work.
It is at this point that he momentarily
abandons his impartial stance to take a
side-swipe at North Americans. The second
chapter deals with the material culture of
the Maya, and is introduced by a brief
review of the origins of agriculture and the
formation of stratified society. In the discus-
sion of subsistence activities, the author
mentions cultigens by their common, their
scientific, and their Maya names. Further he
covers industries utilizing stone, wood, shell,
pottery and other materials, the manufac-
ture of textiles, the design of clothing, the
culinary arts, and house and temple con-
struction. The third chapter, entitled “Some
Problems of Social Organization,” draws on
linguistic data as well as on documents to
throw light on social classes, land ownership,
kinship and territorial groups, and types of
political organization. Conclusions are
cautious, particularly with regard to the
Classic Period, leaving many problems open
for future investigation.
The fourth chapter takes up the calendar,
the astronomical and geographical know-
ledge of the Maya, and medicine. An error in
Brainerd and Morley, which ignores
Thompson’s reading of late dates of Yucatan
and equates the “Short Count’) with the U
Kahlay Katunob of colonial times, is
repeated here, and the author makes no
mention of the fact that the theory of
determinants and the knowledge of the
Me t o n i c cycle by the Maya are seriously
questioned by some scholars. Occasional
errors can also be found in the chapter on
architecture and representative arts, though
they are trivial and probably stem from
unfamiliarity with primary material and
from misconstructions of statements in
foreign texts. By and large, the discussion
exhibits a keen and intelligent appreciation
37
of the arts and gives a competent account of
their history. Particularly notable is the
chapter on literature, dance, and music. The
author recognizes the poetic character of
Maya texts and gives free-verse translations
of a number of passages from native manu-
scripts. Data on dances are taken mostly
from historical sources. Little is said of
dance forms, but the author gives many
Maya names of dances and discusses their
function. Archeological specimens and re-
presentations are cited in describing musical
instruments. The seventh chapter deals
principally with religious conceptions of
Postclassic times, since the author feels that
there had been significant changes in
religions in the course of Maya history and
thal these changes have not been sufficiently
clarified to determine the nature of more
ancient beliefs. The book is concluded with
a brief summary of the contributions of
Mesoamerican culture to life in the present
and of survivals of ancient Maya custom.
The scattered illustrations are not re-
ferred to in the text and there is no map of
the Maya area and only one site plan-that
of Palenque. The bibliography, on the other
hand, is copious and there are several refer-
ences to it virtually on every page. There is
an index of names and another of geo-
graphical and ethnic terms. I do not know of
any book published here that gives such easy
access to so much information on the
culture of the Precolumbian Maya. If only
for this reason, and in spite of its short-
comings, it is well worthy of our attention,
and with some revision could be recom-
mended for translation.
The Thrice Shy: Cultuml Accommodation
to Blindness and Other Disasters in a
Mexican C o m m u n i t y . JOHN L.
GWALTNEY. New York & London:
Columbia University Press, 1970 xii +
219 pp., illustrations, maps, tables, 4
appendices, references, index. $6.95
(cloth).
Reviewed by GEORGE A. COLLIER
Stanford University
The image of the thrice shy, those
negatively reinforced by unrelenting reality
into fatalism and apprehensive resignation, is
the theme by which Gwaltney, himself