Overview

Scholars have long debated the nature of Maya political organisation during the Classic period (AD 250–950). Complex questions regarding political centralisation, economic change, and the role of politics and economics in the rise and collapse of the civilisation have been examined and reexamined from a variety of perspectives. Antonia Foias and Kitty Emery have assembled a broad collection of essays all focused on a single polity, that of Motul de San José. By presenting a coherent interdisciplinary body of archaeological and environmental data, the volume offers an intensely deep, focused investigation of the various models of the ancient Maya political and economic systems. Research conducted over six seasons of fieldwork reveals a more centralised political system than expected and uncovers the workings of the ancient economic structure. The contributors offer new details concerning how involved royals and non-royal elites were in the politics of nearby states, as well as an extensive tribute system

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9780813041902

Table of Contents

Reviews

A robust presentation.... Motul de San JosE joins a group of edited volumes published in recent years that offer state-of-the-art synthetic overviews of the archeology of a site or region in the Maya area...among these volumes Motul de San JosE is remarkable in the range of data presented and the syntheses attempted. -- Journal of Anthropological Research

Superb. . . . Address[es] all aspects of the complex web of interaction and integration that was the Late Classic polity of Motul de San JosE, including political history, craft production, and animal and agricultural economies. . . .An invaluable work that paints a picture, replete with the richness and variety present in Late Classic Maya society. -- Current Anthropology

Features synthetic but also data-rich chapters from a wide variety of specialists. -- Antiquity

Author Information

Antonia E. Foias is professor of anthropology at Williams College. Kitty F. Emery is associate curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History and associate professor at the University of Florida.

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