This presentation of the pre-contact history of Central America is an introduction and guide for visitors to the region and also illustrates hundreds of the museum's lesser-known holdings. Doris Stone spent decades working and traveling throughout Central America, from Guatemala to Panama. As Stephen Williams writes in his introduction, "her numerous journeys on mule back with Sam Lothrop and other archaeologists in pursuit of elusive sites in the Central American jungles were epic." The volume is enriched by Stone's deep first-hand knowledge of the area and its cultural past.