The Maya and Their Central American Neighbors: Settlement Patterns, Architecture, Hieroglyphic Texts, and Ceramics

Description

The ancient Maya created one of the most studied and best-known civilizations of the Americas. Nevertheless, Maya civilization is often considered either within a vacuum, by sub-region and according to modern political borders, or with reference to the most important urban civilizations of central Mexico. Seldom if ever are the Maya and their Central American neighbors of El Salvador and Honduras considered together, despite the fact that they engaged in mutually beneficial trade, intermarried, and sometimes made war on each other. "The Maya and Their Central American Neighbors" seeks to fill this lacuna by presenting original research on the archaeology of the whole of the Maya area (from Yucatan to the Maya highlands of Guatemala), western Honduras, and El Salvador. With a focus on settlement pattern analyses, architectural studies, and ceramic analyses, this ground breaking book provides a broad view of this important relationship allowing readers to understand ancient perceptions about the natural and built environment, the role of power, the construction of historical narrative, trade and exchange, multiethnic interaction in pluralistic frontier zones, the origins of settled agricultural life, and the nature of systemic collapse. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of figures List of tables List of contributors 1 The ancient Maya and their Central American neighbors Part I El Salvador and Honduras 2 Practices of spatial discourse at Quelepa 3 Ancient Quelepa, colonial San Miguel: shifting cultural frontiers and rogue colonialism in eastern El Salvador 4 Shifting fortunes and affiliations on the edge of ruin: a ceramic perspective on the Classic Maya collapse and its aftermath at Copan Part II The highlands of Guatemala 5 The other Preclassic Maya: interaction, growth, and depopulation in the eastern Kaqchikel highlands 6 The other Late Classic Maya: regionalization, defense, and boundaries in the central Guatemalan highlands Part III The southern Maya lowlands 7 A tangled web: ceramic adoption in the Maya lowlands and community interaction in the early Middle Preclassic as seen in the K’awil complex from Holmul, Peten, Guatemala 8 The royal port of Cancuen and the role of long-distance exchange in the apogee of Maya civilization 9 Real/fictive lords/vessels: a list of MARI lords on the newly discovered Andrews Coffee Mug Part IV The eastern periphery of Belize 10 The dynastic history and archaeology of Pusilha, Belize 11 Follow the leader: Fine Orange pottery systems in the Maya lowlands Part V Yucatan 12 The role and realities of popol nahs in northern Maya archaeology 13 Alternative narratives and missing data: refining the chronology of Chichen Itza Part VI Before and beyond: a comparative perspective 14 Peer-polity interaction in the Norte Chico, Peru, 3000–1800 BC Index