Fossil legends of the first Americans / Adrienne Mayor.

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This book examines the discoveries of enormous bones and uses of fossils for medicine, hunting magic, and spells. Well before Columbus, Native Americans observed the mysterious petrified remains of extinct creatures and sought to understand their transformation to stone. In perceptive creation stori...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mayor, Adrienne, 1946- (Author)
Language:English
Published: Princeton, New Jersey ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, [2023]
Subjects:
Indigenous peoples > Antiquities.
Indigenous peoples > Folklore.
Fossils > America > History.
Fossils > America > Folklore.
Tales > America.
Paleontology > America.
Paleoanthropology > America.
America > Antiquities.
Antiquities.
Fossils.
Indians.
Indians > Antiquities.
Paleoanthropology.
Paleontology.
Tales.
America.
Folklore.
History.
Genre:
Folklore.
History.
Physical Description:xxxix, 446 pages : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) photographs (black and white) ; 21 cm
Format: Book
Contents:
  • Marsh monsters of big bone lick
  • The northeast: giants, great bears, and grandfather of the buffalo
  • New Spain: bones of fear and birds of terror
  • The southwest: fossil fetishes and monster slayers
  • The prairies: fossil medicine and spirit animals
  • The high plains: thunder birds, water monsters, and buffalo-calling stones
  • Common ground
  • Fossil frauds and specious legends.