Table of Contents
Preface 6
Chronological Table 9
1 Introduction 10
The Setting 13
Natural Resources 20
Areas 22
Periods 22
Societies and Languages 25
Climate Change and Its Cultural Impact 30
2 The Earliest Maya 32
The First People 32
Archaic Collectors and Cultivators 38
Early Preclassic Villages 40
The Middle Preclassic Expansion 43
Preclassic Kaminaljuyu 48
The Maya Lowlands 50
3 The Rise of Maya Society 54
The Birth of the Calendar 56
Izapa and the Pacific Coast 61
The Hero Twins and the Creation of the World 64
Kaminaljuyu and the Maya Highlands 66
The Peten and the Maya Lowlands 73
The Mirador Region 77
San Bartolo 81
From Preclassic to Classic in the Maya Lowlands 84
4 Classic Splendor: The Early Period 86
Defining the Early Classic 91
Teotihuacan: Military Giant 93
The Esperanza Culture 97
Cerén: The Pompeii of the Americas? 100
The Early Classic in the Central Area 100
Copan in the Early Classic 112
The Northern Area 114
5 Classic Splendor: The Late Period 118
Classic Sites in the Central Area 121
Copan and Quirigua 127
Tikal 132
Calakmul 137
Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, and Bonampak 141
The Petexbatun 146
Palenque 146
Comalcalco and Tonina 157
Classic Sites in the Northern Area: Rio Bec, Chenes, and Coba 158
Imagery of the Late Classic 160
6 Maya Thought and Culture 176
Being Religious 180
Ordering the Universe 182
Gods and Spirits 190
Numbers and the Calendar 198
The Sun and the Moon 201
The Celestial Wanderers and the Stars 202
The Nature of Maya Writing 203
History Graven in Stone 210
The Great Game 213
A Possessed World 216
7 The Terminal Classic 219
The Great Collapse 219
Ceibal and the Putun Maya 222
Puuc Sites in the Northern Area 225
Ek Balam 230
The Terminal Classic and the Toltecs at Chichen Itza 232
The Cotzumalhuapa Problem 248
The End of an Era 251
8 The Postclassic 252
The Itza and the City of Mayapan 253
The Independent States of Yucatan 258
The Central Area in the Postclassic 263
Mexican Dynasties in the Southern Area 264
The Spanish Conquest 266
9 Maya Life on the Eve of the Conquest 269
The Farm and the Chase 269
Industry and Commerce 272
The Life Cycle 273
Society and Politics 274
10 The Enduring Maya 277
The New Spanish Order 279
The Highland Maya: Yesterday and Today 281
The Tsotsil Maya of Zinacantan 286
The Yucatec Maya 288
The Maya of Chan Kom 288
The Lacandon 290
Resistance and Survival 292
The Great Terror 293
The Maya Future 294
Visiting the Maya Area 296
Further Reading 303
Sources of Illustrations 310
Index 312
