Publications
The Peabody Museum has long published a variety of print and electronic publications relating to collections, projects, and excavations conducted by Peabody Museum staff and Department of Anthropology faculty.
Current publications can be found under Books with links to purchase, while pre-1970s publications include links to texts when available.
Books
Chichen Itza and Its Cenote of Sacrifice, Volumes XI and XII
Citation:
Alfred M. Tozzer. 1957. Chichen Itza and Its Cenote of Sacrifice, Volumes XI and XII, Pp. 515. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press.
 | tozzer_12_redacted.pdf | 57.86 MB |
| tozzer_11_redacted.pdf | 79.17 MB |
Clay Figurines of the American Southwest
Citation:
Noel Morss. 1954. Clay Figurines of the American Southwest, Pp. 159. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press. READ ONLINE
Abstract:
Peabody Museum Papers Volume 49, no. 1Coclé: An Archaeological Study of Central Panama, Part I: Historical Background, Excavations at the Sitio Conte, Artifacts and Ornaments
Citation:
et al Samuel Kirkland Lothrop. 1937. Coclé: An Archaeological Study of Central Panama, Part I: Historical Background, Excavations at the Sitio Conte, Artifacts and Ornaments, Pp. 374. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press. READ ONLINE
Abstract:
Peabody Museum Memoirs Volume 7Coclé: An Archaeological Study of Central Panama, Part II: Pottery of the Sitio Conte and Other Archaeological Sites
Citation:
Samuel Kirkland Lothro. 1942. Coclé: An Archaeological Study of Central Panama, Part II: Pottery of the Sitio Conte and Other Archaeological Sites, Pp. 326. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press. READ ONLINE
Abstract:
Peabody Museum Memoirs Volume 8Collecting the Weaver's Art: The William Claflin Collection of Southwestern Textiles
Citation:
Laurie D. Webster. 12/9/2003. Collecting the Weaver's Art: The William Claflin Collection of Southwestern Textiles, Pp. 160. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press. BUY THIS BOOK
Abstract:
by Laurie D. Webster
Foreword by Tony Berlant
This is the first publication on a remarkable collection of sixty-six outstanding Pueblo and Navajo textiles donated to the Peabody Museum in the 1980s by William Claflin, Jr., a prominent Boston businessman, avocational anthropologist, and patron of Southwestern archaeology. Claflin bequeathed to the museum not only these beautiful textiles, but also his detailed accounts of their collection histories—a rare record of the individuals who had owned or traded these weavings before they found a home in his private museum. Textile scholar Laurie Webster tells the stories of the weavings as they left their native Southwest and traveled eastward, passing through the hands of such owners and traders as a Ute Indian chief, a New England schoolteacher, a renowned artist, and various military officers and Indian agents. Her concise overview of Navajo and Pueblo weaving traditions is enhanced by the reflections of noted artist and Navajo textile expert Tony Berlant in his foreword to the text.
Laurie D. Webster is an independent scholar and textile consultant, and Visiting Scholar in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona.
Tony Berlant is an artist and author, and collector, curator, and expert on Navajo textiles.
Community Fire
Citation:
Zhang Xiao. 8/8/2023. Community Fire, Pp. 192. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press and Aperture. BUY THIS BOOK
Abstract:
In his project Community Fire, the photographer Zhang Xiao takes a local, hometown look at Shehuo (社火), a Chinese Spring Festival tradition celebrated in rural northern Chinese communities, including temple fairs, dragon dances, and storytelling. Shehuo—literally, “community fire”—is devoted to the worship of land and fire, and boasts a history of many thousands of years. During the festival, people hold ceremonies, pray for the next year’s good harvest, and confer blessings of peace and safety for all family members.However, what was once a heterogeneous cultural tradition with myriad regional variations has largely become a tourist-facing, consumption-oriented enterprise. In the early 2000s, Shehuo received an “intangible cultural heritage” designation from the People’s Republic of China, resulting in increased funding in exchange for greater government involvement. While transforming the practitioners’ relation to Shehuo, this change expresses itself most visually in the way Qing dynasty–era costumes and props have been replaced with newer, cheaper products from online shopping websites. Zhang’s photographs capture how these mass-produced substitutions have transformed the practice of Shehuo. Through a colorful and fantastical blend of portraiture and ephemera that documents the blurred edges between the everyday and the absurd, Community Fire is a dynamic visual exploration of one of China’s oldest traditions.
Copublished by Aperture and Peabody Museum Press
Series
The Hieroglyphic Stairway, Ruins of Copan: Report on Explorations by the Museum
Citation:
George Byron Gordon. 1902. The Hieroglyphic Stairway, Ruins of Copan: Report on Explorations by the Museum, Pp. 83. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press. READ ONLINE
Abstract:
Peabody Museum Memoirs Volume 1, no. 6The Ruins of Holmul, Guatemala
Citation:
Raymond E. Merwin and George C. Vaillant. 1932. The Ruins of Holmul, Guatemala, Pp. 172. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press. READ ONLINE
Abstract:
Peabody Museum Memoirs Volume 3, no. 2xplorations in the Department of Peten, Guatemala, and Adjacent Region: Topoxté, Yaxhá, Benque Viejo, Naranjo
Citation:
Teobert Maler. 1908. xplorations in the Department of Peten, Guatemala, and Adjacent Region: Topoxté, Yaxhá, Benque Viejo, Naranjo, Pp. 144. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press. READ ONLINE
Abstract:
Peabody Museum Memoirs Volume 4, no. 2Zuni, Hopi, Copan: Early Anthropology at Harvard, 1890–1893
Citation:
John Gundy Owens. 4/18/2023. Zuni, Hopi, Copan: Early Anthropology at Harvard, 1890–1893. Edited by Curtis M Hinsley, Pp. 360. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press and Dumbarton Oaks Publications. BUY THIS BOOK
Abstract:
Zuni, Hopi, Copan: Early Anthropology at Harvard, 1890–1893 publishes one hundred letters from John Gundy Owens to Deborah Harker Stratton, currently held in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. Owens was one of the first graduate students in anthropology at Harvard; his poignant letters to “Miss Debbie” trace a budding relationship of affection in late Victorian America and offer vivid, highly entertaining accounts of his fieldwork at Zuni pueblo in New Mexico, Hopi mesa villages in Arizona, and the Maya site of Copan in Honduras.
Tragically, Owens died at age twenty-seven in Copan; Stratton never married and kept the letters until her own death, nearly fifty years later. Introductory essays by Curtis M. Hinsley, Louis A. Hieb, and Barbara W. Fash contextualize the annotated letters and shed new light on early anthropological training in the United States.
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Bones from Awatovi
Citation:
Stanley J. Olsen. 12/1/1978. Bones from Awatovi, Pp. 84. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press. BUY THIS BOOK
Abstract:
Bones from Awatovi contains a detailed analysis of the massive collection of both the faunal remains and the bone/antler artifacts recovered from the site of Awatovi. Unique in its size and degree of preservation, the Awatovi faunal collection provides rich ground for analysis and interpretation. Olsen and Wheeler deliver an in-depth examination which is of interest to archaeologists and faunal analysts alike.
Caves of the Upper Gila and Hueco Areas in New Mexico and Texas
Citation:
C. B. Cosgrove. 1947. Caves of the Upper Gila and Hueco Areas in New Mexico and Texas, Pp. 260. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press. READ ONLINE
Abstract:
Peabody Museum Papers Volume 24, no. 2Ceramics and Artifacts from Excavations in the Copan Residential Zone
Citation:
Gordon R. Willey, Richard M. Leventhal, Arthur A. Demarest, and William L. Fash. 2/21/1995. Ceramics and Artifacts from Excavations in the Copan Residential Zone, Pp. 496. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press. BUY THIS BOOK
Abstract:
This is the first of two volumes addressing the Harvard University excavations in an outlying residential zone of the Copan in Honduras. The book offers detailed descriptions of ceramics and all other artifacts during 1976–1977. The materials pertain largely to the Late Classic Period. Ceramics are presented according to the type-variety system.
Changing Navaho Religious Values: A Study of Christian Missions to the Rimrock Navahos
Citation:
Robert N. Rapoport. 1954. Changing Navaho Religious Values: A Study of Christian Missions to the Rimrock Navahos, Pp. 174. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press. READ ONLINE
Abstract:
Peabody Museum Papers Volume 41, no. 2
(Reports of the Rimrock Project Values Series, no. 2)
Anthropological Literature
The Peabody Museum also publishes Anthropological Literature, a research database that indexes over 660 journals in multiple languages -- a highly recommended research tool.