The book is far too heavy for me to carry to Guatemala when I go in January, but I can see myself looking up details over the weeks to come. While I cannot recommend this book as light reading it is NOT light in any sense of the word , it is a model of American archeological scholarship at its best.
View 2 comments. Mar 10, Dan G rated it it was amazing. The most comprehensive discussion of the Ancient Maya I have encountered. Jan 29, Pablo rated it it was amazing. A tour-de-force textbook. Enormously instructive and even highly readable for someone not engaged in a formal course of study. Moments where the author's beliefs and prejudices compromised the text, use of words such as 'primitive' jarred with me.
Informative other than that. Feb 08, Jacquelyn rated it it was amazing. Dense but fascinating and absorbing. Jul 17, Alexus rated it really liked it. This is the best and most comprehensive general study of the ancient Maya that I know of. It has its problems, of course one of which I think is reliance on Spanish accounts of the Postclassic , and also some inconsistencies due to its many revisions, but this is still the best around.
If you can only read one book on the ancient Maya, this should be the one. Feb 07, Yuki rated it really liked it. Very good information on the basics of ancient Maya. Dec 27, Dalila rated it really liked it. Read this book for my Maya Civilization class. It was very interesting. I particularly liked the first couple of chapters that help to paint the picture of the landscape in the region of the world where the Maya live currently and throughout history.
I would like to have gone a little deeper in the religion and every day live aspects instead of focusing so much on the rulers, however that is too be expected since most of the archeological evidence available that wasn't previously destroyed foc Read this book for my Maya Civilization class. I would like to have gone a little deeper in the religion and every day live aspects instead of focusing so much on the rulers, however that is too be expected since most of the archeological evidence available that wasn't previously destroyed focuses on the rulers and their rule.
Es como una enciclopedia sobre la cultura maya. Third edition, printing. Mar 29, Danna rated it really liked it. Well written. This was required reading for a college course, but I enjoyed the book so much, and it has so much information, that I kept it and reread parts of it. Nov 09, Sharon Skinner rated it liked it.
Tim Kardatzke rated it really liked it Jul 12, David rated it it was amazing Apr 12, Mike Mollman rated it really liked it Jul 21, Rosa Montes rated it it was amazing Dec 14, Kelly rated it liked it Jul 20, During the Terminal Classic period, overpopulation, reduced food production from depleted environments, warfare, and periodic droughts brought famine, disease, violence, and the abandonment of lowland cities by people seeking a better life elsewhere.
These changes undermined the authority of traditional Maya kings and led to the collapse of most Classic kingdoms. Yet some kingdoms hung on and even prospered in this changing environment. Chichen Itza in Yucatan was the paragon of this development, and for about two centuries this city headed one of the largest and most prosperous states in Mesoamerica. It did so by advancing the authority of an elite council over the king, since royalty was discredited by the failures of most Maya polities.
Yet Chichen Itza also ultimately failed, taking with it the last vestiges of the Classic era. The Postclassic period was ushered in by a series of new states with transformed economic, political, and religious institutions. The new economy was based on utilitarian commodities such as salt, cotton, and obsidian rather than traditional prestige goods. The new political order was based on rule by councils instead of kings.
The new religious order emphasized household ritual and pan-Mesoamerican deities that replaced monumental temples, mass spectacles, and the patron gods of Maya kings. Postclassic states prospered in the highlands and along the lowland coasts, controlling new seacoast trade. One of the most successful states was Mayapan, a less ostentatious northern capital that replaced Chichen Itza. This spurred the growth of mercantile elites and the middle class that managed the new economy.
Mayapan fell a century before the arrival of the Spaniards, who began conquering a mosaic of Postclassic polities in CE. After more than a century of bitter conflict, the Spanish defeated the last independent Maya states in CE.
Although Maya kings and kingdoms have vanished, archaeologists and epigraphers have revealed much about their civilization. During their heyday, Maya rulers advertised their achievements with carved portraits on monuments and ordered the construction of splendid palaces and temples. Carved texts provide evidence for the reconstruction of the Maya political system as it developed during the Classic period.
The decipherment of these texts has revealed the events and histories of Classic Maya kingdoms, along with their creation myths and religious practices. We know far more about the elites of ancient Maya society than the more numerous common people.
Archaeological research has favored polity capitals, along with the elaborate artifacts produced for the elite—carved jades, painted pottery, mirrors, and scepters. Classic Maya inscriptions are even more exclusive to the upper echelons of society. Recently discovered murals at Calakmul are unique in depicting merchants and other non-elite individuals with glyphs labeling their activities e.
Otherwise Maya texts and portrayals are all about kings and elites, not other members of Maya society. Fortunately today far more archaeology is devoted to non-elites. A more balanced view of Maya civilization comes from excavations of the settlements of the common people and smaller administrative centers without the trappings of royal power. But the Maya did not vanish with the downfall of their Preclassic kingdoms, or from the more profound decline at the end of the Classic period.
The Spanish Conquest ended Maya civilization, but the Maya people survived this trauma and years of subsequent oppression. Today, several million Maya people continue to live in their ancient homeland and have retained their culture, their Mayan languages, and many of their traditions. Farriss, Nancy M. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Jones, Grant D. Ever since the awesome remains of this civilization, which spanned some 2, years, were discovered in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the ancient Maya have attracted widespread fascination.
Where had this civilization come from? How could the Maya have sustained themselves so successfully in such an inhospitable environment? What catastrophes had overwhelmed their long-abandoned cities? Today, scientific research in a variety of disciplines has made considerable progress in answering such questions.
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