Ancient Maya Politics: A Political Anthropology of the Classic Period 150-900 CE (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781108483889)

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.

Author: Simon Martin
ISBN-10: 1108483887
ISBN-13: 9781108483889
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 06/18/2020
Pages: 538
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.80lbs
Size: 10.10h x 7.60w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2021