North America Ancient Origins

Gorgeous Collector's Edition. In this new history, James Ball gathers together the ancient story of North American History, tracing it to today's many still-thriving native cultures. Records of the pre-Columbian era rely heavily on archeological evidence, showing the migrations across the Bering Strait from Asia, over 30,000 years ago when mammoth, then bison roamed freely across the continent. By 12000 BCE there are traces of people from Alaska to Mexico and by 3000 BCE, corn was cultivated in Arizona and Mexico. Early mounds (some in the shape of animals), and agricultural irrigation can be found from 300 BCE, as the Adenans were superseded by the Hopewellians, then the Mississippians after 500 CE, who, also called Temple Mound culture inhabited settlements of up to 20,000 people. Stone pueblos (dwellings) have been discovered in cliff faces, notably Mesa Verde in Colorado, from around 900 CE as people across the North American continent developed their cultures in concert with nature and the cycles of life. With no tradition of writing, such peoples brought to life their landscape and lives through oral traditions, and the re-telling of dreams, brought to an abrupt decline by the arrival of the Europeans with their diseases, and their desire for territory.

Flame Tree Collector's Editions present the foundations of speculative fiction: authors, myths, tales and history without which the imaginative literature of the twentieth century would not exist, bringing the best, most influential and most fascinating works into a striking and collectable library. Each book features a new Introduction and a Glossary of Terms or lists of Ancient Leaders.

Dr. Nicholas Laluk (Foreword) is a member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe (the Ndee) located in east-central Arizona and is an Indigenous archaeologist interested in the continued decolonization and Indigenization of the archaeological discipline. He received his PhD from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, took a postdoctoral position at the Center for Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University, and followed this with a position with his own Tribe as Deputy Historic Preservation Officer. He has worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a Tribal liaison-archaeologist, as well as a wildland firefighter and wildland fire cultural heritage resource advisor. He continues to advocate for epistemic and social justice, inclusion and the critical need for the Indigenous voice to be included in all stages of research-related and real-world activities.

James Ball (Author) is a writer specializing in history and education. A former secondary school history teacher, he has been authoring highly successful books for publishers including Oxford University Press and York Press for over 15 years. James has written titles on topics as diverse as the American West, the history of medicine, medieval China and Henry VIII.

J.K. Jackson is General Editor of The World's Greatest Myths and Legends series, with titles including 'Myths of Babylon', 'Indian Myth', 'Egyptian Myth', 'Norse Myth' and 'Polynesian Island Myth'. He is editor of 'Myths and Legends' and foreword writer for 'Celtic Myths and Tales'. Other related work includes articles on the Philosophy of Time, 'Macbeth, A Gothic Chaos' and William Blake's use of mythology in his visionary literature.