ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author summarizes the archaeological and ethnohistorical data that have been brought to bear on questions related to the function and structure of the Late Post-Classic royal courts of the highland Maya. The author explores that a brief description drawn from ethnohistorical sources, of the players that filled the stage of highland Maya courts. The author turns to archaeological data on the Post-Classic period. The author focuses on two areas of current ethnohistorical research of relevance to Maya courts: social structure and the organization of Late Post-Classic political systems. The author describes most archaeological projects conducted at Post-Classic sites in the Guatemalan highlands since 1970, his review of ethnohistorical studies is limited in scope because of the quantity of work on the subject. Ethnohistorical studies of political organization have focused on the application of the segmentary state model and, by and large, have considered lineage structure as forming the basis of segmentation.
