Ancient Maya Politics

A Political Anthropology of the Classic Period 150-900 CE
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-1-108-48388-9
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 538 Seiten, Format (B × H): 188 mm x 253 mm, Gewicht: 1278 g

The Classic Maya have long presented scholars with vexing problems. One of the longest running and most contested of these, and the source of deeply polarized interpretations, has been their political organization. Using recently deciphered inscriptions and fresh archaeological finds, Simon Martin argues that this particular debate can be laid to rest. He offers a comprehensive re-analysis of the issue in an effort to answer a simple question: how did a multitude of small kingdoms survive for some six hundred years without being subsumed within larger states or empires? Using previously unexploited comparative and theoretical approaches, Martin suggests mechanisms that maintained a 'dynamic equilibrium' within a system best understood not as an array of individual polities but an interactive whole. With its rebirth as text-backed historical archaeology, Maya studies has entered a new phase, one capable of building a political anthropology as robust as any other we have for the ancient world.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Martin, Simon

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: the questions; Part I. Agendas in Classic Maya Politics: 2. Modelling the Maya; 3. On archaeopolitics; 4. Worlds in words; Part II. Epigraphic Data on Classic Maya Politics: 5. Identity; 6. Constitution; 7. Transcendence; 8. Matrimony; 9. Conflict; 10. Hierarchy; 11. Coda; Part III. A Political Anthropology of the Classic Maya; 12. Classic Maya networks; 13. Defining classic Maya political culture; 14. Hegemony in practice and theory; 15. Summary and conclusions: a society of kings.

Über Autor(innen)

Martin, Simon
Simon Martin is an Associate Curator and Keeper at the Penn Museum and Adjunct Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania. He is the co-author of Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens (2008) and Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya (2004). He is currently the 2019–2020 Kislak Chair for the Study of the History and Cultures of the Early Americas at the Library of Congress, Washington DC.