gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, archaeogemology, Pre-Columbian jade; Costa Rica; Maya; exchange; iconography, lapidary, Dumbarton Oaks

In this book Elizabeth P. Benson explores Pre-Columbian zoology and the important role of animals as companions to humans in this world and in the afterlife. She is widely acknowledged as one of the leading authorities on animal imagery in Pre-Columbian America. Although trained as an art historian, her extensive study of Latin American zoology, both past and present, lends a new dimension to the interpretation of artistic imagery. As director of the Dumbarton Oaks Center for Pre-Columbian Studies, she organized many conferences on Pre-Columbian art and archaeology and edited numerous volumes published by Dumbarton Oaks. As curator of the Pre-Columbian Collection there, she worked with some of the finest ancient artworks from Latin America. In addition to many exhibition catalogues, she authored books on the Maya of Mesoamerica and the Moche of Peru, as well as numerous articles on animal imagery in Pre-Columbian America. Most recently, she served as coeditor and coauthor of the catalogue for the exhibition “Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico” at the National Gallery of Art. She remains one of the best-known and most respected scholars in the field of Pre-Columbian art. This book serves as a companion text to the traveling exhibition “Birds and Beasts of Ancient Latin America.” Many of the artworks published here appeared in print for the first time and represent a substantial selection of the objects included in the exhibition. They were drawn from four collections: the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; the Carnegie Museum of Natural History; and both the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art and the Florida Museum of Natural History, which are part of the University of Florida. The exhibition was funded by a consortium formed by the Florida Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the University of Pennsylvania Museum, and the California Academy of Sciences.