A lavishly illustrated catalog of a traveling exhibition marking the Columbus quincentennial explores the common threads in fourteen pre-Columbian cultures, from the Olmec, Maya and Aztec of Mexico and Guatemala through the Chavin culture (900-200 B.C.) of the Andes to the Moche, Chimu and the Inca empire, accompanied by essays from 26 scholars examining sacred geographies, myths and ancient beliefs as they are transmitted through visual arts and architecture.