The preparation of a volume of worldwide research contributions can be a time consuming task which is frequently more difficult than many other types of book. This particular venture was made easier by the assistance of many people. Therefore, we wish to acknowledge: the suggestions, academic support and direction of Dr. Kenneth M. Weiss, our American editor; the assistance of the staff of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Northern Iowa, particularly the generous and congenial efforts of Ms. Rosemarie Skaine and Mrs. Heidi Anderegg whose computer and...

South America's Andean highlands have seen the rise and decline of several impressive, indigenous civilizations. Separated somewhat in time and place, each developed its distinctive socio-cultural accouterments but all shared a need to adjust to the individual, societal and environmental limitations imposed by life at high altitude. Partial oxygen pressure, temperature and humidity fall systematically as altitude rises, but there are other changes as well. Darwin, Forbes, von Humboldt, von Tschudi and other naturalists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who weaved their way through...