Overview

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 With new, largely unpublished data from several recent archaeological projects, this book examines the premises, strengths, and weaknesses of these two perspectives before moving beyond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.

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9781607324126

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Reviews

<i>A valuable contribution to the Mesoamerican literature and to the study of ancient political processes in general</i>. <b>--Edward Schortman, J. Kenneth Smail Professor of Anthropology at Kenyon College</b> <i> [?O]ffers new pathways toward integral archaeological scholarship, in its foregrounding of approaches that underscore complex yet holistic and organic interpretations of material remains and emic evidence.? ?</i> <b><i> Anthropology News</i></b></p>

A valuable contribution to the Mesoamerican literature and to the study of ancient political processes in general. Edward Schortman, J. Kenneth Smail Professor of Anthropology at Kenyon College

A valuable contribution to the Mesoamerican literature and to the study of ancient political processes in general. Edward Schortman, J. Kenneth Smail Professor of Anthropology at Kenyon College

Author Information

Damien B. Marken is instructor in the Department of Anthropology at Bloomsburg University and editor of the book Palenque: Recent Investigations at the Classic Maya Center. James L. Fitzsimmons is associate professor of anthropology at Middlebury College and author or editor of four books, including Living with the Dead: Mortuary Ritual in Mesoamerica.

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