A Forest of History: The Maya after the Emergence of Divine Kingship

by Travis W. Stanton (Editor), M. Kathryn Brown (Editor)

Overview

David Freidel and Linda Schele’s monumental work A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya (1990) offered an innovative, rigorous, and controversial approach to studying the ancient Maya, unifying archaeological, iconographic, and epigraphic data in a form accessible to both scholars and laypeople. Travis Stanton and Kathryn Brown’s A Forest of History: The Maya after the Emergence of Divine Kingship presents a collection of essays that critically engage with and build upon the lasting contributions A Forest of Kings made to Maya epigraphy, iconography, material culture, and history.
 
These original papers present new, cutting-edge research focusing on the social changes leading up to the spread of divine kingship across the lowlands in the first part of the Early Classic. The contributors continue avenues of inquiry such as the timing of the Classic Maya collapse across the southern lowlands, the nature of Maya warfare, the notion of usurpation and “stranger-kings” in the Classic period, the social relationships between the ruler and elite of the Classic period Yaxchilán polity, and struggles for sociopolitical dominance among the later Classic period polities of Chichén Itzá, Cobá, and the Puuc kingdoms.
 
Many of the interpretations and approaches in A Forest of Kings have withstood the test of time, while others have not; a complete understanding of the Classic Maya world is still developing. In A Forest of History recent discoveries are considered in the context of prior scholarship, illustrating both the progress the field has made in the past quarter century and the myriad questions that remain. The volume will be a significant contribution to the literature for students, scholars, and general readers interested in Mesoamerican and Maya archaeology.
 
Contributors:
Wendy Ashmore, Arlen F. Chase, Diane Z. Chase, Wilberth Cruz Alvarado, Arthur A. Demarest, Keith Eppich, David A. Freidel, Charles W. Golden, Stanley P. Guenter, Annabeth Headrick, Aline Magnoni, Joyce Marcus, Marilyn A. Masson, Damaris Menéndez, Susan Milbrath, Olivia C. Navarro-Farr, José Osorio León, Carlos Peraza Lope, Juan Carlos Pérez Calderón, Griselda Pérez Robles, Francisco Pérez Ruíz, Michelle Rich, Jeremy A. Sabloff, Andrew K. Scherer, Karl A. Taube

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646422357
Publisher:	University Press of Colorado
Publication date:	07/01/2021
Pages:	358
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Travis W. Stanton is professor of anthropology at the University of California, Riverside. He is codirector of the Proyecto de Interacción Política del Centro de Yucatán with Traci Ardren and of the Proyecto Sacbé Yaxuná-Cobá with Aline Magnoni and Traci Ardren. He is the author, coauthor, editor, or coeditor of several books, including Ruins of the Past, The Archaeology of Yucatán, The Past in the Present, and Before Kukulkán.
 
M. Kathryn Brown is the Lutcher Brown Endowed Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the director of the Mopan Valley Preclassic Project in Belize. Her research focuses on the role of ritual and religion in the rise of complexity in the Maya lowlands. She has numerous publications including two coedited books titled Pathways to Complexity and Ancient Mesoamerican Warfare.
 

Table of Contents

List of Figures ix

List of Tables xxi

Foreword Jeremy A. Sabloff xxiii

1 See the Forest for the Trees: An Introduction to the Volume Travis W. Stanton M. Kathryn Brown 3

2 "Terminal" Termination Rituals and the Felling of A Forest of Kings: Past Struggles and Recent Triumphs of the Core Concepts of a Seminal Work Arthur A. Demurest 9

3 The Materialization of Classic Period Maya Warfare: Caracol Stranger-Kings at Tikal Arlen F. Chase Diane Z. Chase 20

4 Maya Usurpers Joyce Marcus 49

5 Forest of Queens: The Legacy of Royal Calakmul Women at El Perú-Waka's Central Civic-Ceremonial Temple Olivia C. Navarro-Farr Griselda Pérez Robles Damaris Menéndez Juan Carlos Pérez Calderón 67

6 Statecraft in the City of the Centipede: Burials 39,38, and Internal Alliance Building at El Perú-Waka', Guatemala Michelle Rich Keith Eppich 88

7 Revisiting Bird Jaguar and the Sajal of the Yaxchilán Kingdom Charles W. Golden Andrew K. Scherer 107

8 Macaw Mountain and Ancient Peoples of Southeast Mesoamerica Wendy Ashmore 126

9 Borderland Politics: A Reconsideration of the Role of Yaxuná in Regional Maya Politics in the Latter Part of the Classic Travis W. Stanton Aline Magnoni Stanley P. Guenter José Osorio León Francisco Pérez Ruíz María Rocio González de la Mata 135

10 In Search of Paradise: Religion and Cultural Exchange in Early Postclassic Mesoamerica Karl A. Taube 154

11 Empire at Chichén Itzá Revisited Annabeth Headrick 187

12 Closing the Portal at Itzmal Ch'en: Effigy Censers and Termination Rituals at a Mayapán Ceremonial Group Marilyn A. Masson Wilberth Cruz Alvarado Carlos Peraza Lope Susan Milbrath 204

13 On Copán Stela 11 and the Origins of the Ill Omen of Katun 8 Ahau Stanley P. Guenter 236

14 Into the Woods: Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Iconography in Classic Maya Studies David A. Freidel 248

References Cited 261

Contributors 317

Index 321

Editorial Reviews

“A wonderful tribute to A Forest of Kings. It captures the spirit of that work and highlights many of the discoveries made since its publication. Oftentimes, the papers in this volume portray A Forest of Kings as prescient: it certainly was.”
—James Fitzsimmons, Middlebury College
 
“Stanton and Brown have done an excellent job bringing together world-class scholars who continue to push the advancement of Maya studies through their contributions. These works highlight the depth of knowledge that archaeologists, epigraphers, and art historians have gained over the past twenty-five-plus years.”
—Jeffrey B. Glover, Georgia State University
 

"This book is a very comprehensive, often daring, and very personal set of syntheses."
—Americae

From the Publisher