3,000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands: Identity, Politics, and Violence

Description

3,000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands presents the cutting-edge research of 25 authors in the fields of archaeology, biological anthropology, art history, ethnohistory, and epigraphy. Together, they explore issues central to ancient Maya identity, political history, and warfare. The Maya lowlands of Guatemala, Belize, and southeast Mexico have witnessed human occupation for at least 11,000 years, and settled life reliant on agriculture began some 3,100 years ago. From the earliest times, Maya communities expressed their shifting identities through pottery, architecture, stone tools, and other items of material culture. Although it is tempting to think of the Maya as a single unified culture, they were anything but homogeneous, and differences in identity could be expressed through violence. 3,000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands explores the formation of identity, its relationship to politics, and its manifestation in warfare from the earliest pottery-making villages through the late colonial period by studying the material remains and written texts of the Maya. This volume is an invaluable reference for students and scholars of the ancient Maya, including archaeologists, art historians, and anthropologists. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of figures List of tables List of contributors 1 Identity, politics, and violence: an introduction to 3,000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands 2 Identity and power of the earliest Maya: Preclassic architecture and cultural development of Nakum and Yaxha, Peten, Guatemala 3 Migration and conflict, or emulation and interaction?: The Belize Valley during the Middle Preclassic 4 Southern Belize from Paleoindian to Preclassic times: introduction to the region, early origins, and identity 5 The Southern Belize Region in Early to Late Classic period Mesoamerica: first settlement, Nim li Punit, and Uxbenka 6 The Southern Belize Region in Late to Terminal Classic period Mesoamerica: Pusilha, Lubaantun, and identity 7 Queens and statecraft: royal women in the heart of the Fire Shrine at El Perú-Waka’ 8 Architecture as a material representation of sociopolitical structure: an analysis of lowland Maya palace complexes in the late eighth century 9 As the B’ak’tun turned: reconstructing Classic to Postclassic population dynamics in the Belize River Valley 10 Dzehkabtun: crisis and violence in the Terminal Classic 11 Foreign encounters: warfare, trade, and status at Chichen Itza 12 The sustenance providers: war, sacrifice, and the origin of people in ancient Mesoamerica 13 Power and politics on the late colonial frontier of British Honduras Index