The Classic Maya (Cambridge World Archaeology)

About this book

In the first millennium AD the Classic Maya created courtly societies in and around the Yucatan Peninsula that have left some of the most striking intellectual and aesthetic achievements of the ancient world including large settlements like Tikal Copan and Palenque. This book is the first in-depth synthesis of the Classic Maya. It is richly informed by new decipherments of hieroglyphs and decades of intensive excavation and survey. Structured by categories of person in society it reports on kings queens nobles gods and ancestors as well as the many millions of farmers and other figures who lived in societies predicated on sacred kingship and varying political programs. The Classic Maya presents a tandem model of societies bound by moral covenants and convulsed by unavoidable tensions between groups all affected by demographic trends and changing environments. Focusing on the Classic heartland but referring to other zones it will serve as the basic source for all readers interested in the civilization of the Maya.