The story is of a young Chahta-Choctaw boy¿s odyssey into manhood prior to the European discovery of the Americas. The young man Issi, Deer, lives at Nanih Wayia, the Chahta ¿Mother Site,¿ Winston County, Mississippi. Throughout the story, Issi shows a great deal of character as he nears adulthood, mixing the real world with the spirit world. In a cross-cultural way, the story is a kind of imaginary time travel, where people lived quite differently from us, yet were as human and as loving, having the same feelings and hopes but expressing and achieving them with different thoughts and actions. They are referred as the Oklafihna and the Chito, meaning the Great People. The Oklafihna are a village and community, and a part of the greater collegium of peoples later known as the Chahta. Within the story are brief glimpses of the people, the geographic place, and the environment. The story is a fictional adventure, placed primarily in Mississippi and the adjacent states. Comments on the ethnographic customs and descriptions of daily living and activities are based upon the written literature, enhanced by the writer¿s personal interpretations of the Southeastern United States Indians and their archaeology, and imagination. Many places referenced are actual, though little known. Brief historical comment is made of places when important to the understanding of the story and place. The story hopefully builds a believably real and acceptable construct of Issi¿s time, place, and adventure, mixed with the spirit world. Moderate use of Chahta words throughout the story lend authenticity. About the Author Richard Arling Marshall has spent more than fifty years as a teacher and archeologist. Born in 1928 in Belen, New Mexico, he grew up in Missouri, graduating with a bachelor¿s in art and science and obtained a master¿s degree in anthropology from the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri. After 1966 the author was associated with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Cobb Institute of Archaeology, Mississippi State University, as professor of anthropology, and conducted research and salvage archaeology and Cultural Resource Surveys throughout that state. He retired in 1994 as associate professor of anthropology emeritus. The author¿s wife is Helen Justine Noe, formerly of Lilbourn, Missouri. Together they have two daughters and five grandchildren. (2013, Paperback, 568 pages)

The first substantial study of a Mexican Indian society that more than any other has preserved much of its ancient way of life and religion.

Winner, Society for American Archaeology Book Award, 2017 San Antonio Conservation Society Publication Award, 2019 The prehistoric hunter-gatherers of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas and Coahuila, Mexico, created some of the most spectacularly complex, colorful, extensive, and enduring rock art of the ancient world. Perhaps the greatest of these masterpieces is the White Shaman mural, an intricate painting that spans some twenty-six feet in length and thirteen feet in height on the wall of a shallow cave overlooking the Pecos River. In The White Shaman Mural, Carolyn E. Boyd takes us on a journey of discovery as she builds a convincing case that the mural tells a story of the birth of the sun and the beginning of time—making it possibly the oldest pictorial creation narrative in North America. Unlike previous scholars who have viewed Pecos rock art as random and indecipherable, Boyd demonstrates that the White Shaman mural was intentionally composed as a visual narrative, using a graphic vocabulary of images to communicate multiple levels of meaning and function. Drawing on twenty-five years of archaeological research and analysis, as well as insights from ethnohistory and art history, Boyd identifies patterns in the imagery that equate, in stunning detail, to the mythologies of Uto-Aztecan-speaking peoples, including the ancient Aztec and the present-day Huichol. This paradigm-shifting identification of core Mesoamerican beliefs in the Pecos rock art reveals that a shared ideological universe was already firmly established among foragers living in the Lower Pecos region as long as four thousand years ago.

Features over four hundred entries that explore such topics as the core beliefs of various tribes, creation accounts, and recurrent themes throughout North American native cultures. The beliefs of many Native American peoples emphasize a close relationship between people and the natural world, including geographical features such as mountains and lakes, and animals such as whales and bison. Therefore, many of the myths of these peoples are stories of strange occurrences where animals or forces of nature and people interact. These stories are full of vitality and have captured the attention of young people, in many cases, for centuries. Native American Mythology A to Z presents detailed coverage of the deities, legendary heroes and heroines, important animals, objects, and places that make up the mythic lore of the many peoples of North America from northern Mexico into the Arctic Circle. A comprehensive reference written for young people and illustrated throughout, this volume brings to life many Native American myths, traditions, and beliefs. Offering an in depth look at various aspects of Native American myths that are often left unexplained in other books on the subject, this book is a valuable tool for anyone interested in learning more about various Native American cultures. Coverage includes creation accounts from many Native American cultures; influences on and development of Native American mythology; the effects of geographic region, environment, and climate on myths; core beliefs of numerous tribes; recurrent themes in myths throughout the continent. The beliefs of many Native American peoples emphasize a close relationship between people and the natural world.

Art Encounters brings the work of famous artists to life through thrilling and evocative stories that reflect the individual paintings featured. This new series of historical fiction introduces young readers to the styles, methods, techniques, and influences of great painters. History and fiction merge in this uplifting novel about a boy whose artistic talent awaits a great mind to uncover it. A child of the Depression, Parker begins his relationship with O'Keeffe by stealing her property, notably a camera. She is prepared to let him rot in jail when she develops the photos he has taken with the stolen camera and recognizes the boy's raw ability. Set against the backdrop of New Mexico's stark beauty, Parker's struggle to find his artistic vision clashes with O'Keeffe's fierce independence and private nature. Parker tries to connect with his surroundings through the use of a camera, while O'Keeffe uses it as an aid for finding points of view otherwise difficult to obtain. This book is a literary interpretation of O'Keeffe's painting Ram's Skull with Brown Leaves, as well as an intimate look at the artist's fame, her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz, and her creative process. Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico Georgia O'Keeffe's single greatest inspiration was the New Mexican desert. She went "half mad with love for the place." There O'Keeffe collected the dry, white animal bones scattered over the desert, and painted her first "bone" paintings, including Ram's Skull with Brown Leaves. After 1934, she returned to New Mexico every summer, moving there permanently after the death of her husband, the art impresario Alfred Stieglitz. When O'Keeffe visited the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, she knew immediately that she wanted to live there. Later, she bought and restored an abandoned hacienda nearby. Although failing eyesight forced her to stop painting with oil in the 70's, she continued to use pencil and watercolor. Active long into her later years, O'Keeffe died in 1986 at the age of 98. • For readers ages 12 and up • The first book in the new Art Encounters series • The story is based around O'Keeffe's painting Ram's Skull with Brown Leaves (Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM) • Georgia O'Keeffe is one of the top five most studied artists in American schools