Download or read book The Organization of Agricultural Production at a Classic Maya Center written by Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo and published by Center for Comparative Arch. This book was released on 2002 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed analysis of the economic foundations of the prehispanic Maya city of Palenque. Full information on extensive ridged field systems in Palenque's immediate hinterland and on the rural settlement associated with them. The study concludes that, initially, the construction and use of these ridged fields systems was strongly controlled and managed by elites residing in the city itself. Later in the sequence there is a substantial decrease in central administrative control. Detailed data are available electronically. Complete text in English and Spanish.
Download or read book Palenque written by Damien B. Marken and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 2007 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collection of articles on recent excavations and studies of one of the best known Maya archaeological sites
Download or read book Classic Maya Polities of the Southern Lowlands written by Damien B. Marken and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2015-11-21 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classic Maya Polities of the Southern Lowlands investigates Maya political and social structure in the southern lowlands, assessing, comparing, and interpreting the wide variation in Classic period Maya polity and city composition, development, and integration. Traditionally, discussions of Classic Maya political organization have been dominated by the debate over whether Maya polities were centralized or decentralized. With new, largely unpublished data from several recent archaeological projects, this book examines the premises, strengths, and weaknesses of these two perspectives before moving beyond this long-standing debate and into different territory. The volume examines the articulations of the various social and spatial components of Maya polity—the relationships, strategies, and practices that bound households, communities, institutions, and dynasties into enduring (or short-lived) political entities. By emphasizing the internal negotiation of polity, the contributions provide an important foundation for a more holistic understanding of how political organization functioned in the Classic period. Contributors include Francisco Estrada Belli, James L. Fitzsimmons, Sarah E. Jackson, Caleb Kestle, Brigitte Kovacevich, Allan Maca, Damien B. Marken, James Meierhoff, Timothy Murtha, Cynthia Robin, Alexandre Tokovinine, and Andrew Wyatt.
Download or read book The Only True People written by Bethany J. Beyette and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2017-03-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Only True People" is a timely and rigorous examination of ethnicity among the ancient and modern Maya, focusing on ethnogenesis and exploring the complexities of Maya identity—how it developed, where and when it emerged, and why it continues to change over time. In the volume, a multidisciplinary group of well-known scholars including archaeologists, linguists, ethnographers, ethnohistorians, and epigraphers investigate ethnicity and other forms of group identity at a number of Maya sites and places, from the northern reaches of the Yucatan to the Southern Periphery, and across different time periods, from the Classic period to the modern day. Each contribution challenges the notion of ethnically homogenous "Maya peoples" for their region and chronology and explores how their work contributes to the definition of "ethnicity" for ancient Maya society. Contributors confront some of the most difficult theoretical debates concerning identity in the literature today: how different ethnic groups define themselves in relation to others; under what circumstances ethnicity is marked by overt expressions of group membership and when it is hidden from view; and the processes that transform ethnic identities and their expressions. By addressing the social constructs and conditions behind Maya ethnicity, both past and present, "The Only True People" contributes to the understanding of ethnicity as a complex set of relationships among people who lived in real and imagined communities, as well as among people separated by social boundaries. The volume will be a key resource for Mayanists and will be of interest to students and scholars of ethnography, anthropology, and cultural studies as well. Contributors: McCale Ashenbrener, Ellen E. Bell, Marcello A. Canuto, Juan Castillo Cocom, David A. Freidel, Wolfgang Gabbert, Stanley P. Guente, Jonathan Hill, Charles Andrew Hofling, Martha J. Macri, Damien B. Marken, Matthew Restall, Timoteo Rodriguez, Mathew C. Samson, Edward Schortman, Rebecca Storey
Download or read book Settlement Ecology of the Ancient Americas written by Lucas C. Kellett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this exciting new volume several leading researchers use settlement ecology, an emerging approach to the study of archaeological settlements, to examine the spatial arrangement of prehistoric settlement patterns across the Americas. Positioned at the intersection of geography, human ecology, anthropology, economics and archaeology, this diverse collection showcases successful applications of the settlement ecology approach in archaeological studies and also discusses associated techniques such as GIS, remote sensing and statistical and modeling applications. Using these methodological advancements the contributors investigate the specific social, cultural and environmental factors which mediated the placement and arrangement of different sites. Of particular relevance to scholars of landscape and settlement archaeology, Settlement Ecology of the Ancient Americas provides fresh insights not only into past societies, but also present and future populations in a rapidly changing world.
Download or read book Ancient Maya Commoners written by Jon C. Lohse and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much of what we currently know about the ancient Maya concerns the activities of the elites who ruled the societies and left records of their deeds carved on the monumental buildings and sculptures that remain as silent testimony to their power and status. But what do we know of the common folk who labored to build the temple complexes and palaces and grew the food that fed all of Maya society? This pathfinding book marshals a wide array of archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic evidence to offer the fullest understanding to date of the lifeways of ancient Maya commoners. Senior and emerging scholars contribute case studies that examine such aspects of commoner life as settlement patterns, household organization, and subsistence practices. Their reports cover most of the Maya area and the entire time span from Preclassic to Postclassic. This broad range of data helps resolve Maya commoners from a faceless mass into individual actors who successfully adapted to their social environment and who also held primary responsibility for producing the food and many other goods on which the whole Maya society depended.
Download or read book Mesoamerican Plazas written by Kenichiro Tsukamoto and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2014-04-10 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until now, archaeological and historical studies of Mesoamerican plazas have been scarce compared to studies of the surrounding monumental architecture such as pyramidal temples and palaces. Many scholars have assumed that ancient Mesoamericans invested their labor, wealth, and symbolic value in pyramids and other prominent buildings, viewing plazas as by-products of these buildings. Even when researchers have recognized the potential significance of plazas, they have thought that plazas as vacant spaces could offer few clues about their cultural and political roles. Mesoamerican Plazas challenges both of these assumptions. The primary question that has motivated the contributors is how Mesoamerican plazas became arenas for the creation and negotiation of social relations and values in a community. The thirteen contributions stress the significance of interplay between power relations and embodied practices set in specific historical and material settings, as outlined by practice theory and performance theory. This approach allows the contributors to explore broader anthropological issues, such as the negotiation of power relations, community making, and the constitution of political authorities. Overall, the contributions establish that physical interactions among people in communal events were not the outcomes of political machinations held behind the scenes, but were the actual political processes through which people created, negotiated, and subverted social realities. If so, spacious plazas that were arguably designed for interactions among a large number of individuals must have also provided critical arenas for the constitution and transformation of society.
Download or read book Ixl written by Prudence M. Rice and published by Center for Comparative Arch. This book was released on 2016 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A summary of the history and geopolitical role of the Maya archaeological site of Ixlu, located on Lake Peten Itza in the Peten region of Guatemala. Information from historical sources is combined with the results of archaeological fieldwork carried out between 1980 and 1998. The archaeological research carried out by the authors complements ethnohistoric accounts of the events leading up to the Spanish conquest of the Peten Itzas, which did not occur until 1697. Insight is provided into Ixlu's possible role as an entrepot in Maya trade and into conflicts between the region's rival Maya ethnopolities, the Itza and Kowoj"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Ten Thousand Years of Inequality written by Timothy A. Kohler and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2019-02-19 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is wealth inequality a universal feature of human societies, or did early peoples live an egalitarian existence? How did inequality develop before the modern era? Did inequalities in wealth increase as people settled into a way of life dominated by farming and herding? Why in general do such disparities increase, and how recent are the high levels of wealth inequality now experienced in many developed nations? How can archaeologists tell? Ten Thousand Years of Inequality addresses these and other questions by presenting the first set of consistent quantitative measurements of ancient wealth inequality. The authors are archaeologists who have adapted the Gini index, a statistical measure of wealth distribution often used by economists to measure contemporary inequality, and applied it to house-size distributions over time and around the world. Clear descriptions of methods and assumptions serve as a model for other archaeologists and historians who want to document past patterns of wealth disparity. The chapters cover a variety of ancient cases, including early hunter-gatherers, farmer villages, and agrarian states and empires. The final chapter synthesizes and compares the results. Among the new and notable outcomes, the authors report a systematic difference between higher levels of inequality in ancient Old World societies and lower levels in their New World counterparts. For the first time, archaeology allows humanity’s deep past to provide an account of the early manifestations of wealth inequality around the world. Contributors Nicholas Ames Alleen Betzenhauser Amy Bogaard Samuel Bowles Meredith S. Chesson Abhijit Dandekar Timothy J. Dennehy Robert D. Drennan Laura J. Ellyson Deniz Enverova Ronald K. Faulseit Gary M. Feinman Mattia Fochesato Thomas A. Foor Vishwas D. Gogte Timothy A. Kohler Ian Kuijt Chapurukha M. Kusimba Mary-Margaret Murphy Linda M. Nicholas Rahul C. Oka Matthew Pailes Christian E. Peterson Anna Marie Prentiss Michael E. Smith Elizabeth C. Stone Amy Styring Jade Whitlam
Download or read book Chan written by Cynthia Robin and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2012-06-03 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The farming community of Chan thrived for over twenty centuries, surpassing the longevity of many larger Maya urban centers. Between 800 BC and 1200 AD it was a major food production center, and this collection of essays reveals the important role played by Maya farmers in the development of ancient Maya society. Chan offers a synthesis of compelling and groundbreaking discoveries gathered over ten years of research at this one archaeological site in Belize. The contributors develop three central themes, which structure the book. They examine how sustainable farming practices maintained the surrounding forest, allowing the community to exist for two millennia. They trace the origins of elite Maya state religion to the complex religious belief system developed in small communities such as Chan. Finally, they describe how the group-focused political strategies employed by local leaders differed from the highly hierarchical strategies of the Classic Maya kings in their large cities. In breadth, methodology, and findings, this volume scales new heights in the study of Maya society and culture.
Download or read book Tikal written by David L. Lentz and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-23 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The primary question addressed in this book focuses on how the ancient Maya in the northern Petén Basin sustained large populations during the Late Classic period.
Download or read book Everyday Life Matters written by Cynthia Robin and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2013-10-29 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the study of ancient civilizations has often focused on holy temples and royal tombs, a substantial part of the archaeological record remains hidden in the understudied day-to-day lives of artisans, farmers, hunters, and other ordinary people of the ancient world. The various chores of a person's daily life can be quite extraordinary and, even though they may seem trivial, such activities can have a powerful effect on society as a whole. Everyday Life Matters develops general methods and theories for studying everyday life applicable in archaeology, anthropology, and a wide range of disciplines. In this groundbreaking work, Cynthia Robin examines the 2,000-year history (800 B.C.-A.D. 1200) of the ancient farming community of Chan in Belize, explaining why the average person should matter to archaeologists studying larger societal patterns. Robin argues that the impact of what is commonly perceived as habitual or quotidian can be substantial, and a study of a polity without regard to the citizenry is woefully incomplete. She also develops general methods and theories for studying everyday life applicable across a wide range of disciplines. Refocusing attention from the Maya elite and offering critical analysis of daily life interwoven with larger anthropological theories, Robin engages us to consider the larger implications of the seemingly mundane and to rethink the constitution of human societies, everyday life, and ordinary people.
Download or read book Ancient Mesoamerican Population History written by Adrian S.Z. Chase and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2024-05-07 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book critically re-examines Mesoamerican archaeological approaches to estimating populations associated with ancient cities, settlement systems, and regions. Archaeological data and lidar are both employed to demonstrate how complex ancient Mesoamerican societies were and how they changed over time"--
Download or read book Pre Hispanic Maya Agriculture written by Peter D. Harrison and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Classic Maya Provincial Politics written by Lisa J. LeCount and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2010-09-15 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most treatments of large Classic Maya sites such as Caracol and Tikal regard Maya political organization as highly centralized. Because investigations have focused on civic buildings and elite palaces, however, a critical part of the picture of Classic Maya political organization has been missing. The contributors to this volume chart the rise and fall of the Classic Maya center of Xunantunich, paying special attention to its changing relationships with the communities that comprised its hinterlands. They examine how the changing relationships between Xunantunich and the larger kingdom of Naranjo affected the local population, the location of their farms and houses, and the range of economic and subsistence activities in which both elites and commoners engaged. They also examine the ways common people seized opportunities and met challenges offered by a changing political landscape. The rich archaeological data in this book show that incorporating subject communities and people—and keeping them incorporated—was an on-going challenge to ancient Maya rulers. Until now, archaeologists have lacked integrated regional data and a fine-grained chronology in which to document short-term shifts in site occupations, subsistence strategies, and other important practices of the daily life of the Maya. This book provides a revised picture of Maya politics—one of different ways of governing and alliance formation among dominant centers, provincial polities, and hinterland communities.
Download or read book Journal of Mesoamerican Studies written by and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Report for the Fiscal Years written by Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
