ABSTRACT
To call an edited volume Continuities and Changes in Maya Archaeology seems overly ambitious at best and disingenuous at worst. It is beyond the scope of any one volume to encapsulate the entire field of Maya archaeology, covering the history of its past one hundred years, its current state, and its future prospects. But this volume is not an attempt to circumscribe and delimit the field. It is intended, instead, to highlight the diversity of methodologies, theoretical approaches, and interpretive frameworks that make up archaeology as practiced in the Maya area-extending from southern Mexico to western Honduras-at the beginning of the twenty-first century (figure 1.1). To this end, the volume includes contributions on “traditional” topics in archaeology, such as ceramics, sociopolitical organization, and epigraphy, as well as “innovative” topics, such as residue analysis, social context studies, and community studies, which highlight the theoretical and methodological diversity and fluidity of our discipline.
