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

In 1990 the scholarly world commemorated the 400th anniversary of the death of Bernardino de Sahagún, widely regarded as the most systematic and innovative early ethnographer of the cultures of the Americas and among the first investigators to experiment with methods resembling modern anthropology. It was therefore fitting that the Institute for Mesoamerican Studies publish a volume devoted to the results of his nearly sixty years of “field work” among the Nahuatl-speaking peoples of Mexico. The institute took particular pride in issuing the book in time to encourage reflection during the years in which the name of this celebrated Franciscan would be frequently invoked by Mesoamericanists around the world. Special thanks were extended to H. B. Nicholson and Eloise Quiñones Keber, coeditors of the volume, for their timely and thoughtful assistance throughout the preparation of the manuscript. The author also gratefully acknowledged support from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, whose fellowship made it possible to complete the volume on schedule by relieving many competing obligations.