Mythology of the American Nations - An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Gods, Heroes, Spirits, Sacred Places, Rituals & Ancient Beliefs of the North American Indian, Inuit, Aztec, Inca and Maya Nations

This is a beautiful book full of color photos of people and places. Humans first entered America when it was joined to Asia by an Ice Age land bridge over what is known now as the Bering Strait, perhaps as long as 40,000 years ago. Machu Picchu "The Lost City In the Clouds" was discovered by Hiram Bingham who wrote the book LOST CITY OF THE INCAS in 1981 which I read and marveled at the importance of such a place. It was a remote mountain retreat in Peru and was one of the Incas' most sacred sites. It is on a mountain top, built by P. I. Yupauqui and served as the royal estate for his descendants until it was abandoned shortly before the Spaniards arrived. It contained three ritual locations, "Hitching Post of the Sun," Temple of Three Windows, and the Sun Temple, used for astronomical observations. It was noted for having its own spring-water system. Peru has its own Stonehenge nearby. The South American pyramid-temples were more spectacular than those in Egypt. The Pyramid of the Sun is rounded on top to mimic the surrounding mountains. The Pyramid of the Moon is surrounded by shorter structures as in the Valley of the Kings. Shamans of the Indian tribes use spiritual techniques extending back to Palaeolithic times. They may be healers, seers, or keepers of sacred knowledge. Chacmooi is a giant reclinging figure used in temples. Its legs are half bent and its head is turned to one side, with an open box on its abdomen to hold offerings. It represents the Aztec gods of drinking and inebriation. There is a good photo of fierce-looking Low Dog, a Sioux warrior who fought General Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876. Some American Indian tribes are Hopi in Arizona and New Mexico, Pawnee in Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, Passamaquoddy in Maine, Arikara in North Dakota, Arapaho in Wyoming and Colorado, Apache in New Mexico and Missouri, Blackfoot in Montana and Canada, Creek in Georgia and Alabama, Choctaw in Mississippi and Oklahoma, Comanche in the Rocky Mtns. and Mexico, and Cherokee in Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky. This book is illustrated with over 500 color and some black-and-white pictures; there are more than 600 alphabetically arranged entries and is fully cross-referenced and comprehensively indexed. It was printed in Singapore.