Research Guides: Selected Resources on Ancient Mesoamerica: Researching Ancient Mesoamerica

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Books can serve as a solid foundation for a research paper and provide both an overview and depth to a topic. Use OneSearch, the library catalog, to locate books. OneSearch can be accessed on the main page of the library website - library.csus.edu

Find Books with OneSearch

OneSearch Advanced Search

Use the advanced search search box and be sure to limit your search to Books (use the dropdown associated with Material Type:) to retrieve monographs in print and electronic format on topics related to Ancient Mesoamerica.

Keyword Searching:

Searches only for the words, not the concepts.
Is often the best search to do initially, until you know what the Subject terms are.
Can be used in conjunction with an outline to conceptualize a topic.

Subject Searching (Change the search Dropdown Box from "Any" to "in subject"):

Searches the concept (as defined by the Library of Congress Subject Headings)
Is often better done when the keyword search isn't garnering material appropriate to the topic.
May take more work, but will yield better results than a keyword search.

Databases

JSTOR (All Subjects)
JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization which provides an electronic archive to specific scholarly journals. There is typically a gap from 1 to 5 years between the issues being published and the content becoming available in JSTOR. Artstor images also included.
America: History and Life (EBSCO)
America: History and Life is a complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. The database comprises almost 400,000 bibliographic entries and covers over 2,000 journals published worldwide.
Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)
This multi-disciplinary database provides access to full-text articles from popular magazines and scholarly journals (including peer-reviewed) journals. Includes topics in social sciences, humanities, science, education, and most areas of academic study.
Atla Religion Database (EBSCO)
Compiled by the American Theological Library Association, Atla Religion Database covers Biblical studies, world religions, church history, and religious perspectives on social issues. Coverage: 1949 - present
Project Muse
Project Muse offers some 600 journal titles from 260 scholarly publishers including from the Johns Hopkins University Presss which began this project in 1995. The journals included in this database are in the areas of the humanities, social sciences and the arts.

Selected Journals

Ancient Mesoamerica
Online via Cambridge University Press from 1999
Latin American Antiquity
Online via JSTOR 1990-2014
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
Also available in Print 3 SOUTH Periodicals v.6(1987)-v.24(2005)
Journal of Archaeological Research
Online via JSTOR 1993-2013
Archaeometry
Also available in Print v.13(1971)-v.48(2006) Volumes published prior to 1980 shelved in Lower Level Periodicals

Finding the Actual Article

Many of the databases will only provide you with a citation. To retrieve the full text of an article from within most databases, use the Find It @SacState link, which can usually be found at the end of a database record summary.

Cheat Sheet: From Database to Article
A series of pictures to show you how to get to the full text of an article. Steps 7-10 may be the most relevant.
Locating the Article
This guide walks you through the steps with examples.

Last Updated: Jul 8, 2025 1:30 PM