There are lots of books on South American archaeology which have been published in the last few years; here's a sample.
Christopher Donnan's new book, Moche Portraits from Ancient Peru, gives a great introduction and insight into this most personal of prehistoric ceramic art.
In Between the Lines, Anthony F. Aveni provides a personal and somewhat eccentric account of how he and his fellow researchers have come to believe what they do about the mysterious Nasca lines of Peru.
William Isbell explores the ayllu social and political system, a kinship-based political organization that formed the basis of the Inca society before, during and after the Spanish colonial period of the 16th and 17th centuries AD.
Journalist and science writer Heather Pringle provides a comprehensive introduction to the current archaeological study of mummies, including a chapter on South America's Chinchorro mummies.
Catherine Julien squeezes some interesting genealogical and mythical data from the 16th and 17th Spanish narratives of Inca life.
Brian Bauer's book is a (readable) encyclopedia into the mind of the Inca, or at least as close as any English translation of a Spanish chronicle of a Quechua culture can possibly be.
Thirteen scholars try their hand at cracking the mysterious code hidden in the cords and knots of the Inka communication system called the quipu. Edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Gary Urton and published by University of Texas Press in 2002.
