Ancient Maya politics : a political anthropology of the classic period, 150-900 CE / Simon Martin.
"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 Ma...
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Online Access: |
Full Text (via Cambridge) |
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Main Author: | |
Format: | Electronic eBook |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY :
Cambridge University Press,
2020.
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Subjects: |
Summary: | "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 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"-- |
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Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xxi, 520 pages) : illustrations, maps |
Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
ISBN: | 9781108676694 1108676693 9781108483889 1108483887 |
DOI: | 10.1017/9781108676694 |