Research Press at Brigham Young University, an imprint of FARMS, will soon publish its seventh book, the New World Figurine Project, volume two, edited by Terry Stocker and Cynthia L. Otis Charlton. Volume one, printed in 1991 and edited by Stocker, contributed significantly to figurine studies with material on figurines from the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Bolivia, and Peru. Volume two containing approximately 455 illustrations, 20 tables, and 8 maps follows suit with information on figurines from North, Central, and South America.

As Otis Charlton explains in her introduction to volume two, the New Worldvolumes "[bring] together not only information from disparate areas whose scholars do not always see the publications of those from other areas, but . . . provide large, detailed, and clear illustrations so that the articles [can] be easily used for comparative purposes." She further states that previous figurine articles are reprinted in the volumes "in order to make them easily accessible in one place for students and others doing comparative analyses of figurines in the field."

Stocker and Otis Charlton each contributed to the new volume. In "Covariance of Postclassic Figurine Styles, Settlement Patterns, and Political Boundaries in the Basin of Mexico," Stocker and Dan Edwards compare Mazapan figurines from two areas in the Basin to determine that the southern Basin experienced an increase of population during Mazapan times (A.D. 950­1150). They also conclude that "there is no demonstrable link between the demise of Teotihuacan and a population shift toward the southern Basin." To verify their findings, Edward and Stocker include several compelling maps, tables, and illustrations.

In "Hollow Rattle Figurines of the Otumba Area, Mexico," Otis Charlton describes hollow rattle figurines as "made in a two-piece mold forming a hollow, closed-bodied figure usually enclosing one or more small clay balls." They are categorized as Late Postclassic and were discovered during surveys and excavations conducted in the eastern Teotihuacan Valley of Mexico from 1966 to 1969. Drawing upon the excavation data gathered during those three years, Otis Charlton discusses the chronological and functional associations of these figurines as well as the "social and economic implications of their spatial distribution within the surveyed areas."

Otis Charlton explains that volume two of the New World Figurine Project "deals with figurine studies from the descriptive to the ethnographic." This 298-page book features 12 chapters on diverse figurine studies, including Donald R. Tuohy's "The Virgin Anasazi Figurines from 'Lost City'"; Stuart D. Scott's "Pottery Figurines from Central Arizona"; Harry J. Shafer's "Clay Figurines from the Lower Pecos Region, Texas"; B. K. Swartz Jr.'s "Middle Woodland Figurines from the Mann Site, Southwest Indiana"; and Kevin E. Smith's "Human Figurines as Messengers Communicating with Past, Present, and Future Cultures." (For purchasing information, see the enclosed order form or visit the catalog section of the FARMS Web site.)