ABSTRACT
The ancient Maya created one of the most studied and best-known civilizations of the Americas. Nevertheless, Maya civilization is often considered either within a vacuum, by sub-region and according to modern political borders, or with reference to the most important urban civilizations of central Mexico. Seldom if ever are the Maya and their Central American neighbors of El Salvador and Honduras considered together, despite the fact that they engaged in mutually beneficial trade, intermarried, and sometimes made war on each other. The Maya and Their Central American Neighbors seeks to fill this lacuna by presenting original research on the archaeology of the whole of the Maya area (from Yucatan to the Maya highlands of Guatemala), western Honduras, and El Salvador.
With a focus on settlement pattern analyses, architectural studies, and ceramic analyses, this ground breaking book provides a broad view of this important relationship allowing readers to understand ancient perceptions about the natural and built environment, the role of power, the construction of historical narrative, trade and exchange, multiethnic interaction in pluralistic frontier zones, the origins of settled agricultural life, and the nature of systemic collapse.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|89 pages
El Salvador and Honduras
chapter 3|27 pages
Ancient Quelepa, Colonial San Miguel
chapter 4|29 pages
Shifting Fortunes and Affiliations on the Edge Of Ruin
part II|62 pages
The highlands of Guatemala
chapter 5|35 pages
The Other Preclassic Maya
chapter 6|25 pages
The Other Late Classic Maya
part III|68 pages
The southern Maya lowlands
chapter 7|24 pages
A Tangled Web
chapter 9|20 pages
Real/Fictive Lords/Vessels
part IV|90 pages
The eastern periphery of Belize
part V|70 pages
Yucatan
chapter 13|47 pages
Alternative Narratives and Missing Data
part VI|23 pages
Before and beyond