This is a review of two important books by Gordon Brotherston. Book of the Fourth World Cambridge University Press, 1992 ISBN 0-521-30760-0 (cloth) ISBN 0-521-31492-3 (paperback) and Painted Books from Mexico The British Museum Press, 1995 ISBN 0-7141 2519 9 (cloth) The first part of the review is in this message, and contains general comments and an annotated table of contents for each book. The second part of the review is in a second message, and contains more detailed accounts of a few of Brotherston's specific hypotheses which are easier to understand. Reviewing these books is not easy. Few will have read as widely as the author himself. Yet it is possible to give some idea of their strengths and weaknesses, of what they do and do not contain. That is what I will attempt. In the second part of this review, a separate message, I present in more detail two parts of his hypotheses, those he discusses in chapters 7. and 11. of Book of the Fourth World. This gives a flavor of the kind of evidence Brotherston has assembled. The books are encyclopedic, ranging freely over all of the Americas, even some less well known materials of the Caribbean and of the Amazonian Rain Forest (with the possible exception that the northern Athabaskans and the Eskimos are not included). This enormous range is both a major strength and a major weakness. It is a strength because the books can be used for reference, finding important documents through the extensive bibliographies and notes, and as a source of alternative ideas and new possible connections, stimulating in any discovery process. (Anyone seriously interested in the history of the Americas before the Europeans arrived should certainly read these books, simply to be aware of sources of information mentioned in the books which they may have missed.) The enormous range is also a weakness because the books are not really written for beginners. Brotherston uses many names with little or no introduction, assuming the reader knows what they refer to. Readers who are confident enough to not mind this, who are happy to plough forward until it is clear, or to read the book a second time, or to go into the bibliography for help, will benefit more from the new ideas than they will lose. Brotherston assumes the correctness of his own hypotheses, not laying out his full evidence in these books (sometimes he has done so in previously published articles). As a result, it is not easy for a reader to either assimilate or to question his hypotheses. This is often characteristic of creative people. Creative people produce more new hypotheses, both ones that turn out to be correct and ones which turn out to be wrong. Brotherston is probably no exception. I particularly suspect that he has gone overboard in "numerology" on occasion, but do not want to miss anything he says even on this subject, because some of it may be right and can lead to other discoveries even when it is not. (As I have been told by several others, one must take anything Brotherston writes with several grains of salt.) Brotherston also renames major documents of the Americas, whose traditional names are often based on a European owner or library location. For example he calls the "Codex Vindobonensis" by the name of "Annals of Tepexic" because he believes that is where it is from. This has a positive value, forcing us to consider evidence for and against the hypothesis embodied in the name, and also negative effects, making extra work for readers to recognize what is being talked about, and adding further confusion if his hypothesis (name) turns out to be wrong. What I really missed was a list of equivalent names. For some odd reason, Brotherston reproduces the Fonds Mexicanus 20 (the "Coixtlahuaca Map" in his terms) in its current state, with a large central portion destroyed (See Painted Books from Mexico p.147, Book of the Fourth World, Plate 11.), rather than using drawings which do exist of its earlier state, with little or no damage. Brotherston strongly supports the cultural values of the native peoples, and is aiming at recovering as much as possible of what was destroyed in book burnings and cultural oppressions. Some of his major general claims include the following: 1. Native histories are to be believed, and treated just like other histories, of course recognizing that in all times and places, history is colored by cultural purpose. Native histories are generally confirmed when archaeology and multiple sources are available. We must not equate "history" with what Europeans write, and regard anything before that as "prehistory" by discounting native records. 2. Native writing takes many forms, including many which have traditionally been denied to be writing, often because they were misunderstood. We must use all sources available, respect them, and understand them as literature. 3. Native cosmology is adequately supported from multiple sources. World ages among Mesoamericans, Anasazi, and Andeans confirm each other. 4. Native chronologies are to be valued, even when they give accounts of very distant times. These large numbers are recorded in more ways than is generally recognized. 5. Native philosophy of the Americas places humans in a context together with other animals who have thoughts and speak, and with plants. We will do well to respect this more ecological view. ******************************************************************** Here follow first capsule tables of contents with notes. ***Book of the Fourth World*** The major strength of "Fourth World" is the literary parallels it draws, in a number of subjects. Part I. Text 1. Provenance 2. Language and its instances [Tlacuilolli, Teoamoxtli, Maya hieroglyphs, Peruvian Quipu; forms of writing and recordkeeping] 3. Configurations of Space [Maps, Quincunx format, Quatrefoil] [preferred formats of presentation] 4. Configurations of Time [Year counts, The Era, Correlation] Part II. Political Memory 5. Peten [Mayan glyphs] 6. Tollan [Source of civilization, the Mexquital Tula, and the other ancient great Tula [It looks as if Brotherston may have accumulated enough evidence to argue that the earlier great Tula was probably in Veracruz, perhaps to be identified as the Olmec source of Mesoamerican civilization? If so, this may be one of his major contributions. His method is one triangulating from all available sources, much as in his discussion of Turtle Island, in the next chapter.] 7. Turtle Island [Appalachia, Siouans, and northern migrations of Algonquians, establishing as history the major dates of cultural changes 1000 BC, 900 AD.] [Please see the detailed account in the second part of this review] 8. Tahuantinsuyu [Inca order, llama pastoralism, the challenge from the eastern lowland Antisuyu (Ollantaytambo); this is a more literary treatment] Part III. Genesis 9. Popol Vuh [mostly a retelling of salient parts, with parallels from elsewhere: The Mud people, The Doll people, Seven Parrot and family, Down to Xibalba, The Maize people] 10. World ages and metamorphosis [Suns of Mesoamerica, Sipapuni of the Navajo, Andean ascent, Flood and food tree (Amazonia)] [Please see the detailed account in the second part of this review] 11. The Epic [Heroes and the vision quest on the path of the sun, Quetzalcoatl, Maize thrives as the travelers fare, The northern trance journey] 12. American Cosmos Part IV. Into the language of America 13. The translation process [from European into Native languages] [Aesop's fables in Aztec with more psychology, The Thousand and One Nights into Maya, Incas who made Faustian bargains with the devil to regain their rightful power, Cinderella reinterpreted from Mapuche in the far south to Zuni in the north] Notes Glossary Bibliography (44 pages long) Index ******************************************************************** ***Painted Books from Mexico*** The major strengths of this book are the illustrations of a wide range of codices, mapas, and lienzos, the grouping of these into traditions, extensive discussion of actual locations on the ground, and discussion of the differences in presenting the "same" history depending on the political and cultural points of view of the writers. There is a focus on codices in England. 1. The Books of Mesoamerica [names, titles and provenance] 2. Responses to Invasion [differing accounts of the assault on Tenochtitlan, Defense of an ideal social order, and the Tlaxcalan version claiming their own status as conquerors] 3. The Island Aztlan [origins and migration of the Aztecs from the island of Aztlan in the Northwest, to the highland valley and the founding of Tenochtitlan] 4. Seven Caves and the Chichimec [The highland Basin, the Cholula plain, Tlaxcala, Coixtlahuaca, Cuextlan] 5. The Mixtec Lineage Tree [The heartland, Outposts to south and north, Famous lives] 6. Quetzalcoatl's Tula [Climate and produce, parts of the tribute domains represented as the fingers and toes of hands and feet, the Olmec and the Mesoamerican Era] 7. Ritual Synthesis [The tonalamatl's nights and days, Birth and behaviour, Year cycles, Cosmic maps] 8. Stating the Case [The Tenochtitlan model, The Estate of Tepetlaoztoc, Tepotzotlan faces a united front] Commentaries on the codices Chapter Notes Maps Appendices Tables Bibliography Index ******************************************************************** Reviewed by Lloyd Anderson (first part of review) ------------------- This is a second part of the review of Gordon Brotherston's two books: Book of the Fourth World, and Painted Books from Mexico. This part gives longer explanations on two special topics, and a brief note on a third. For these three topics, this reviewer feels it is easier to grasp Brotherston's hypotheses and the evidence which he uses. Perhaps these topics will be more fruitfully considered by other specialists in the appropriate fields. I suspect there is a fourth such topic, namely Brotherston's grouping (in "Painted Books...") of the Mexican codices by their places of origin and their political point of view and style, but as a non-specialist in that field I can merely mention this possibility and leave it to others to explore what he has contributed. A. The World Ages B. The History of North America C. The Tepexic annals (Codex Vindobonensis) ******************************************************************** A. The World Ages Brotherston believes that the philosophy of world ages is widespread in the Americas, in two senses. ***** On the one hand, he believes quite a number of documents lead back to 3113 BC, not merely the Maya Long Count. See his Fourth World pp.115-126, and his Painted Books from Mexico pp.124-129. Probably very few scholars will agree with him here, yet he may be on the track of something important. He interprets the Vindobonensis codex as covering a gigantic time span back to 3113 BC, 92 cycles of 52, and in the Selden (Tlahuixtlahuaca) Roll he interprets the 65 star-eye symbols as representing 52 years each (see the illustration in Painted Books p.128). Just to illustrate where alternative interpretations are possible given only what Brotherston supplies us in these two books, consider an examination of the Codex Rios (Vaticanus A). On leaf 4 it has (10x400)+(8x20) or 4160 (years?), which counting from 3113 BC yields 1047 AD, a date he elsewhere mentions from the Codex Zouche-Nuttall. On leaf 6 it has (10x400)+(10x20) or 4200 (years?), perhaps 1087 AD. On leaf 6 reverse it has (12x400)+(4x20) or 4880 (years?). Perhaps this was really 1367AD if (11x400) was intended. 1767 is unlikely. On leaf 7 it has (13x400)+(6x20) or 5320 (years), perhaps 2207 AD??? On p.3 the Codex Rios has 16 feather-drops, perhaps 16 x 400 or 6400 years? What if the Selden (Tlahuixtlahuaca) Roll represented 65 x 100 or 65 x 104 years? 104 years is the grand Venus cycle of the Dresden Codex, and the star-eye symbol could perhaps represent that. In either case, these two documents would be giving two very similar time spans. Without pulling together all of the information of this kind more systematically, it is hard to judge the claims Brotherston puts forward. Brotherston's article on this general subject was in Aveni and Brotherston eds. 1983 "Calendars in Mesoamerica and Peru", pp.167-221, titled "The year 3113 BC and the Fifth Sun of Mesoamerica". ***** On the other hand, there is the sequence of world ages, each with its own Sun and its own destruction. On this, many more specialists either already agree in part or find it not to difficult to consider possible parallels, perhaps even between Mesoamerica and the Andes. (It is always possible that the conquistadors' accounts of Inca or Andean beliefs were colored by some prior knowledge of Aztec or Mesoamerican beliefs, but we cannot know this. If the parallels are truly independent, then they speak to some very ancient cosmology shared across large parts of the Americas.) This particular sequence of world ages can be found in records from many parts of the Americas. Because parts of this reasoning are so direct, a book which is trying to lay out evidence for reconstruction of common culture of the Americas might be expected to start with this, as one of the clearer cases. Yet Brotherston's books do not, and do not bring together the evidence in such a condensed way. His treatment is more literary. This reviewer suspects that both approaches will be necessary, the condensed sets of parallels to provide sufficient evidence, and the literary approach in order to strengthen the interpretations within each of the separate traditions. Relying especially on Brotherston's Fourth World Chapters 10 and 9, here is what we might produce in condensed form. A.1. Document list abbreviated: Maya: Popol Vuh, other Cakchiquel and Kek'chi books Aztec: Annals of Cuauhtitlan; Sunstone, etc. Hopi: The Fourth World of the Hopis (Courlander), Book of the Hopi (Waters) Navajo: Dine Bahane, Place of Emergence sandpainting (quincunx) Andean: Murua (1590) Historia del origen y genealogia real de los incas Runa yndio niscap Machoncuna "Ancestors of the People called Indians" Huarochiri ca. 1608 A.2. Summary results: First: flood, mud people, fish, ... Second: eclipse, stiff wood people, sky falls, objects and animals attack people who abused them Third: volcanic rain of black fire Fourth: wind Fifth: Change, movement, ... A.3. Summary of world ages in the parallel accounts: A.3.a. Andean, Murua 1590. "From the creation of the world up till this time there have passed four suns, not counting the one that at present gives us light. The first was lost through water, the second by the sky falling on to the earth which killed the giants that there were and the bones which the Spaniards have found hidden in various places are theirs... The third sun they say ended through fire, The fourth, through wind; of this fifth sun they had a great account ...." A.3.b. Terms for these four suns from Quechua dictionaries: First: "water avalanche, or flood" lloqlla unu Second: "sick moon, or eclipse" quilla unqo Third: "fire" nina Fourth: "warlike spirit" auca (here the counterpart of wind) The Sun itself: Pachacuti "a turning or shift in time-space" in Gonzalez Holguin 1608 A.3.c. Runa yndio (chapter 3, flood) Runa yndio (chapter 4, eclipse) Long ago the sun is said to have died. For five days after its death it was night. The stones began to jostle each other; the mortars, large and small, began to eat people, the pestles too. The mountain llamas attacked people. A.3.d Aztec Sunstone: 4 Water 4 Jaguar (with flint knife symbol) 4 Rain 4 Wind (wind from imperial crown) 4 Change / Movement (in center) [Compare A.3.b. "pachacuti"] A.3.e Aztec Cuauhtitlan annals The first Sun to be founded has the Sign Four Water, it is called Water Sun. Then it happened that water carried everything away everything vanished, the people were changed into fish. The second Sun to be founded has the Sign Four Jaguar, it is called Jaguar Sun. Then it happened that the sky collapsed, the Sun did not follow its course at midday, immediately it was night, and when it grew dark, the people were torn to pieces. In this Sun giants lived. The old ones said the giants greeted each other thus: "Don't fall over," for whoever fell, fell forever. The third Sun to be founded has the Sign Four Rain, it is clled Rain Sun. It happened then that fire rained down, those who lived there were burned. And they say that then tiny stones rained down and spread the fine stones that we can see, the tezontli boiled into stone and the reddish rocks were twisted up. The fourth Sun, Sign Four Wind, is called Wind Sun. Then the wind carried everything away. The people all turned into monkeys and went to live in the forests. The fifth Sun, Sign Four Ollin, is called Earthquake Sun because it started into motion. The old ones said in this Sun there will be earthquakes and general hunger from which we shall perish. A.3.f. Maya Popol Vuh (Edmondson line numbering): Mud people, lines 441-478 Wood doll people, lines 617-672 Jaguars etc. who tear apart, lines 694-712 Rain of darkness, lines 713-716 Objects who attack doll people, lines 717-792 Fled to forests, turned into monkeys, lines 793-820 Lines 821-1674 includes earthquakes, volcanism, ... A.3.g. Navajo Blessing Way, 7th and last sandpainting "Place of Emergence", quoting Brotherston p.248: "the central quincunx corresponds to Dzilinaxodili, Huerfano peak on the watershed and at the center of the world, "the mountain of motion or which customarily turns" - exactly the meaning of the Ollin Sign [Change, Movement] at the center of the Sunstone that identifies this fifth world as one of earthquake or movement" The above examples give some idea of the the most obvious parallels, and also of a less obvious one in the Navajo central "mountain of motion or which customarily turns". Brotherstone gives another example of this type, matching the giants who fall over (Cuahtitlan annals) with the Mayan wooden Doll people. This reviewer might very warily suggest adding the reference in Edmondson's Popol Vuh line 644 "And so they fell there", though there may be some uncertainty about the text. There is of course much more, concerning the twin myths and other features linking Mesoamerica with the Hopi, Zuni, Navajo. Brotherston refers to Anneliese Mo"nnich 1971: "The Test Theme: A possible Southwestern trait in Mesoamerican mythology", Berliner Gesellschaft fuer Anthropologie Festschrift 3:310-319. [In 1975, this reviewer worked out detailed parallels between the Navajo "Where the Two Came to Their Father" and the Maya Popol Vuh, but was unaware that Mo"nnich had done some of this earlier.] ******************************************************************** B. The History of North America, from 1000 BC to 900 AD to 1682 etc. Brotherston's Fourth World Chapter 7, "Turtle Island", seems to this reviewer, not especially knowledgeable in North American archaeology and history before the arrival of the Europeans, to be rather easier to read than many of his chapters, and more convincing on the surface. Others will have to judge whether his hypotheses can be supported. Brotherston is here arguing for identifications of the known peoples with archaeologically known sites, and that the combinations of Native records with European records and archaeology justify such claims. More specifically: B.0. Moundbuilder archaeology, two major transitions: 1000BC, Archaic to Woodland cultural transition, "Hopewell" & "Adena" spread down the Ohio, across the Mississippi, and up the Missouri 900AD, beginning of Mississippian flat-topped pyramids "This Ohio culture was in part carried forward by those who began building the flat-topped Mississippian pyramids toward the end of the first millennium A.D.: We find the same copper adornments and carved pipes and the same attention to the bird-man who represents the thunderers of the highest heavens. At the same time, new elements appear: a far richer lexicon of incised shell ..., and above all a much improved agriculture that included maize and other cultigens brought from Mexico." (p.175). B.1. Appalachia: Natchez sustained line of their Great Suns (reputedly 45 or 50 in all) until 18th cent. Muskogee occupied Tukabatchee Mound 1400-1837 three archaeological phases Cherokee recognized an earlier Moundbuilder tradition in their territories Story of first bringing of fire reflects Mississippian shell cameo with crossed sticks (fire) carried on the back of a spider. Annual new-fire narrative of a journey from former homeland at northern end of Appalachia, near the Iroquois their linguistic kin; The Lenape (Delaware) knew they had been on the shores of Lake Erie.... Cusick (1823) was a Tuscarora (6th nation of the Iroquois) He relates a tradition of 2 and 1/2 millennia, from about 1000 BC, going forward fractions of millennia and centuries to ruler Atotarho I, 500AD, then 13 rulers of that name, by intervals of 50 or 100 years, to around 1500AD. Five Nations concept first mentioned as early as year 0. Algonkin nations intrude into Appalachia by the 8th century. Cusick's chapter 2: those who preceded the Iroquois. (??) Cusick's chapter 3: First split, some stayed south (= Cherokee ???) Second split, Tuscarora go south Under Atotarho VII, AD 900, Five nations embassy reaches the Mississippi, where it is lavishly entertained etc. Quoting Brotherston: "This is precisely the moment when Mississippian culture began to flourish in Cahokia. Its impact, massive in the case of the Cherokee in southern Appalachia (as we have seen), was also felt by the Iroquois, not least in their cult of the "three sisters": domesticated plants of ultimately Mexican origin." Added note (not from Brotherston): Floyd Lounsbury has long been interested in the use of corn, squash, beans, and in a peculiar oddity that an Iroquois god Tawiskala seems to have the same name as the Aztec Tlahuiscal-pan-tecuhtli. Brotherston: "At the very least, Cusick's narrative accords with what is independently known about Iroquoian occupation of Appalachia: the Five Nations in the original homeland to the north, the Cherokee migrant in the south. Moreover, it offers a chronology of the earlier stages of native culture that for all its obvious idiosyncrasies does not flout what is now known about the Ohio and Mississippi Mound Builder horizons. Above all, as a text it finds important corroboration in other native histories of Turtle Island." B.2. Siouans down the Ohio, presence at Cahokia Omaha (U-maha "upstream") and Quapaw (U-qapa "downstream") Ponca (Omaha) chief, 1928, told how forefathers came down Ohio to Mississippi, where they occupied both sides, then moved upstream and west, leaving a trail of petroglyphs, at Pipestone on middle Missouri around 1300 Quapaw encounted by French late 17th century between Cahokia and mouth of the Arkansas River, they still had the custom of returning annually to Cahokia, which by that time was occupied by the Algonkins. They had long been blocked from movement farther south by the power of the Natchez. "Just this situation is graphically recorded in the three Quapaw skins brought back to France early in the eighteenth century. ... [the] places are glossed alphabetically ... Larger in size, the other structure reads "Cahokia" ..." B.3. Siouan painted skins begin a count year by year in 1682, before the last Mound Builders were massacred at Natchez, Hiwassee, etc. Siouans further west, histories transcribed from pictographs, levels of time given by cycles of 70-year lifetimes, date beginnings of true civilized life and social organization back to visit of mysterious white buffalo woman with her gift of the pipe and maize. Sources in visionary tradition: Left Heron (Oglala Sioux) Wapoctanxi (Sicangu) prior visit of Eagle Woman Wapoctanxi's son High Hawk Quoting from Brotherston (pp.183-4): "Wapoctanxi places more of [the 70-year] lifetime cycles between Buffalo Woman and the start of the annals [proper in 1700] than does Left Heron, and High Hawk adds still more. Yet they concur on main events, like the first Sun Dance, the first vision of the horse, an enemy concealed among a buffalo herd, the first horseborne buffalo hunt; they all also provide a list, analogous to the Iroquois roll call of chiefs, of "bearers" of the pipe bestowed by Buffalo Woman. Most notably, both Wapoctanxi and High Hawk effectively date her appearance around A.D. 900. This precise inauguration is interestingly corroborated by the east Dakota (Santee) Winter Count seen by Lewis and Clark, which, intricately carved on a long pole, covered the thousand years that preceded their nineteenth-century visit." ... "Given what is now known about the Mississippian culture that flourished from A.D. 900 or so, these Sioux histories demand more serious attention." ... "they provide a wholly appropriate date for the "gift" of the superior four-colored maize that, introduced from Mexico, had disseminated from Cahokia at that time...." Blue Thunder's Yanktonai count specifically associates Buffalo Woman with the mouth of the Missouri, the Cahokian center ..." "On this basis we may take a further step back and note the fact that in the Sicangu histories year spans are also given for the cultural beginnings that characterize the period before Buffalo Woman. Both Wapoctanxi and High Hawk assign to it the two millennia that, exactly as in Cusick's Iroquoian history, return us to the 1000 BC turning point out of the Archaic into the Woodland and Mound Builder cultures identified with the Ohio. Archaeologically there is every reason to link the Siouans likewise with this earlier Mound Builder phase, even if in this remoter case their texts, through images of nascent society and the petroglyphs of ancestral trails, offer no focus comparable with the Mississippian vision of AD 900." Later narratives of these various Siouan records complement each other and provide a secure basis for how to read and understand them, and thus to interpret the earlier chronology and history. B.4. The Algonkins While Siouan and Iroquoian histories claim Mound Builder origins, those of the Algonkin do not. At mid-17th century, Algonkins claimed to have been on Atlantic no more than 350 years. Had forced a way between Iroquois and Cherokee. Lenape (Delaware) had been on the coast 370 years in 1676, according to their Wampum bead count. Earlier history west of Mississippi, then crossing it to Ohio valley, then to east coast. To cross the Mississippi, the Lenape had to overcome its previous inhabitants, "a very powerful nation who had many large towns built on the great rivers flowing through their land." "These can be none other than the Mound Builders defended by impressive earthworks and fortifications. ... having displaced these former inhabitants, who fled down the Mississippi, they adopted their towns and pyramids and were responsible for what is archaeologically known as intrusive activity, like burial, in older structures." Another tradition of records in the Midewiwin birchbark scrolls from Algonkins further north, a four-stage westward migration. Ojibwa sources state that they reached their goal at least by three centuries before 1790 (about 1500); a scroll by Eshkwaykeezhik has a period of 2000 years before that, represented as 4 trees. Navajo Dine Bahane gives records in 102-year lifetimes going back to the 12th century. In summary, Brotherston has compiled a number of sources to support his claim that "history" in the true sense was recorded by native North Americans, going back at least to significant cultural changes in 900AD and probably another 2000 years to cultural changes in 1000BC. Where possible, the records confirm each other and are confirmed by archaeology. It is our task to learn to read their records, rather than to discount them. **************************************************************** C. The Tepexic Annals (Codex Vindobonensis) Brotherston (1985) "The sign Tepexic in its Textual Landscape", Ibero-Amerikanisches Archiv 11:209-251 presents the hypothesis that the Codex Vindobonensis is centered on the town of Tepexic. He identifies this town with the split hill marked with a checkerboard, found in the upper left portion of the Fonds Mexicanus 20, and on a ridge in the Codex Vindobonensis (p.32) which uniquely fills the entire page from bottom to top, thus according to Brotherston holds a more central position in the narrative. He surveys the range of place signs he claims were used for Tepexic, in a range of codices and other documents. This reviewer is of course not familiar with all of the sources, but can react that the range of place signs attributed to Tepexic are not all obviously iconographic versions of each other. Much of the context of neighboring towns and their iconographic representation seem reasonably possible at least, though bearing in mind that the identical place names of the spoken languages occur at multiple locations in real geography, so identification is not by any means straightforward. One real problem I found with his Tepexic analysis, or at least what can illustrate one kind of counterargument, is the fact that the "Old person hill" or "Huehuetlan" on the same ridge with Tepexic (Vindobonensis p.32) as Brotherston interprets the place signs, is shown on the other side of two rivers in the map he gives, Book of the Fourth World page 86. This would seem to be counterevidence because places on the same ridge together would not normally be separated by a river or stream. It would surely be useful to the field of Mesoamerican studies to have Brotherston's hypotheses and any alternative hypotheses for identification of these place names, perhaps by Mixtecanists or others, discussed together, revealing strengths and weaknesses and new lines of investigation. Perhaps there could be a conference devoted specifically to this? The detailed account of the chronology of the Codex Vindobonensis, which Brotherston wishes to read in straight sequence covering a time period going all the way back to 3113 BC, may be found in his article "The year 3113 B.C. and the Fifth Sun of Mesoamerica", in Aveni and Brotherston 1983 Calendars in Mesoamerica and Peru* pp.167-221. I have not yet attempted to follow this through in detail. For those readers for whom the article just mentioned is not available, a table summarizing the results can be found also in "Fourth World" p.121. ***** Reviewed by Lloyd Anderson (second part of review, conclusion)