Ancient Maya Politics

Ancient Maya Politics A Political Anthropology of the Classic Period, 150-900 CE

Hardback (18 Jun 2020)

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Publisher's Synopsis

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.

Book information

ISBN: 9781108483889
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Pub date:
DEWEY: 972.81016
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: 538
Weight: 1276g
Height: 187mm
Width: 260mm
Spine width: 33mm