Pathways to Complexity: A View from the Maya Lowlands

Pathways to Complexity synthesizes a wealth of new archaeological data to illuminate the origins of Maya civilization and the rise of Classic Maya culture. In this volume, prominent Maya scholars argue that the development of social, religious, and economic complexity began during the Middle Preclassic period (1000–300 B.C.), hundreds of years earlier than previously thought.

Contributors reveal that villages were present in parts of the lowlands by 1000 B.C., challenging the prevailing models estimating when civilization took root in the area. Combining recent discoveries from the northern lowlands—an area often neglected in other volumes—and the southern lowlands, the collection then traces the emergence of sociopolitical inequality and complexity in all parts of the Yucatan peninsula over the course of the Middle Preclassic period. They show that communities evolved in different ways due to influences such as geographical location, ceramic exchange, shell ornament production, agricultural strategy, religious ritual, ideology, and social rankings. These varied pathways to complexity developed over half a millennium and culminated in the institution of kingship by the Late Preclassic period.

Presenting exciting work on a dynamic and poorly understood time period, Pathways to Complexity demonstrates the importance of a broad, comparative approach to understanding Preclassic Maya civilization and will serve as a foundation for future research and interpretation.

Contributors: M. Kathryn Brown | Dr. George Bey III | Tara Bond-Freeman | Fernando Robles Castellanos | Tomas Gallareta Negron | E. Wyllys Andrews V | Anthony Andrews | David S. Anderson | Lauren Sullivan | Jaime J. Awe | James F. Garber | Mary Jane Acuña | William Saturno | Bobbi Hohmann | Terry Powis | Paul Healy | Richard Hansen | Donald W. Forsyth | David Freidel | Barbara Arroyo | Richard E. W. Adams

A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase

1127185452
Pathways to Complexity: A View from the Maya Lowlands

Pathways to Complexity synthesizes a wealth of new archaeological data to illuminate the origins of Maya civilization and the rise of Classic Maya culture. In this volume, prominent Maya scholars argue that the development of social, religious, and economic complexity began during the Middle Preclassic period (1000–300 B.C.), hundreds of years earlier than previously thought.

Contributors reveal that villages were present in parts of the lowlands by 1000 B.C., challenging the prevailing models estimating when civilization took root in the area. Combining recent discoveries from the northern lowlands—an area often neglected in other volumes—and the southern lowlands, the collection then traces the emergence of sociopolitical inequality and complexity in all parts of the Yucatan peninsula over the course of the Middle Preclassic period. They show that communities evolved in different ways due to influences such as geographical location, ceramic exchange, shell ornament production, agricultural strategy, religious ritual, ideology, and social rankings. These varied pathways to complexity developed over half a millennium and culminated in the institution of kingship by the Late Preclassic period.

Presenting exciting work on a dynamic and poorly understood time period, Pathways to Complexity demonstrates the importance of a broad, comparative approach to understanding Preclassic Maya civilization and will serve as a foundation for future research and interpretation.

Contributors: M. Kathryn Brown | Dr. George Bey III | Tara Bond-Freeman | Fernando Robles Castellanos | Tomas Gallareta Negron | E. Wyllys Andrews V | Anthony Andrews | David S. Anderson | Lauren Sullivan | Jaime J. Awe | James F. Garber | Mary Jane Acuña | William Saturno | Bobbi Hohmann | Terry Powis | Paul Healy | Richard Hansen | Donald W. Forsyth | David Freidel | Barbara Arroyo | Richard E. W. Adams

A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase

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Pathways to Complexity: A View from the Maya Lowlands

Pathways to Complexity: A View from the Maya Lowlands

Pathways to Complexity: A View from the Maya Lowlands

Pathways to Complexity: A View from the Maya Lowlands

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Overview

Pathways to Complexity synthesizes a wealth of new archaeological data to illuminate the origins of Maya civilization and the rise of Classic Maya culture. In this volume, prominent Maya scholars argue that the development of social, religious, and economic complexity began during the Middle Preclassic period (1000–300 B.C.), hundreds of years earlier than previously thought.

Contributors reveal that villages were present in parts of the lowlands by 1000 B.C., challenging the prevailing models estimating when civilization took root in the area. Combining recent discoveries from the northern lowlands—an area often neglected in other volumes—and the southern lowlands, the collection then traces the emergence of sociopolitical inequality and complexity in all parts of the Yucatan peninsula over the course of the Middle Preclassic period. They show that communities evolved in different ways due to influences such as geographical location, ceramic exchange, shell ornament production, agricultural strategy, religious ritual, ideology, and social rankings. These varied pathways to complexity developed over half a millennium and culminated in the institution of kingship by the Late Preclassic period.

Presenting exciting work on a dynamic and poorly understood time period, Pathways to Complexity demonstrates the importance of a broad, comparative approach to understanding Preclassic Maya civilization and will serve as a foundation for future research and interpretation.

Contributors: M. Kathryn Brown | Dr. George Bey III | Tara Bond-Freeman | Fernando Robles Castellanos | Tomas Gallareta Negron | E. Wyllys Andrews V | Anthony Andrews | David S. Anderson | Lauren Sullivan | Jaime J. Awe | James F. Garber | Mary Jane Acuña | William Saturno | Bobbi Hohmann | Terry Powis | Paul Healy | Richard Hansen | Donald W. Forsyth | David Freidel | Barbara Arroyo | Richard E. W. Adams

A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813072135
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Publication date: 04/27/2021
Series: Maya and Mesoamerican Studies
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 526
File size: 27 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

M. Kathryn Brown, Lutcher Brown Endowed Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at San Antonio, is coeditor of Ancient Mesoamerican Warfare and A Forest of History: The Maya after the Emergence of Divine Kingship. George J. Bey III, Chisholm Foundation Chair in Arts and Sciences at Millsaps College, is coeditor of Pottery Economics in Mesoamerica.

Table of Contents

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Foreword

Arlen F. Chase and Diane Z. Chase

1. Introduction

M. Kathryn Bey and George J. Bey III

2. The Paleo-American and Archaic Periods in Yucatan

Anthony P. Andrews and Fernando Robles Castellanos

3. The Cunil Complex: Early Villages in Belize

Lauren Sullivan, Jaime Awe, and M. Kathryn Brown

4. The Earliest Ceramics of the Northern Maya Lowlands

E. Wyllys Andrews V, George J. Bey III, Christopher Gunn

5. The Role of Ideology, Religion, and Ritual in the Foundation of Social Complexity in the Belize River Valley

M. Kathryn Brown, Jaime J. Awe, and James F. Garber

6. Middle Preclassic Maya Shell Ornament Production: Implications for the Development of Complexity at Pacbitun, Belize

Bobbi Hohmann, Terry Powis and Paul Healy

7. Developmental Dynamics, Energetics, and Complex Economic Interactions of the Early Maya of the Mirador-Calakmul Basin, Guatemala and Campeche, Mexico

Richard D. Hansen, Donald W. Forsyth, James C. Woods, Thomas Schreiner, and Gene L. Titmus

8. The Preclassic Settlement of Northwest Yucatan: Recharting the Pathway to Complexity

David S. Anderson, Fernando Robles Castellanos, and Anthony P. Andrews

9. The Genesis of Maya Complexity in the Northwestern Region of the Yucatan Penisula

Fernando Robles Castellanos and Teresa Ceballos Gallareta

10. The Preclassic Period: A View of Complexity in the Residential Settlement of Ek Balam

Tara Bond-Freeman

11. At the Foot of the Hills: Early Monumentality at Xocnaceh, Yucatan, Mexico

Tomás Gallareta Negrón

12. El Achiotal: An Interior Frontier Center in the Northwestern Petén, Guatemala

Mary Jane Acuña

13. Changing Stages: Royal Legitimacy and the Architectural Development of the Pinturas Complex at San Bartolo, Guatemala

William Saturno, Franco Rossi, and Boris Beltrán

14. Naranjo, Guatemala, A Middle Preclassic Site in the Central Highlands of Guatemala

Barbara Arroyo

15. Maya and the Idea of Empire

David Freidel

16. Conclusion: Charting the Pathways to Complexity in the Maya Lowlands

M. Kathryn Brown and George J. Bey III

References

List of Contributors

Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A treasure trove of new information and fresh ideas about the origins of Maya civilization. Pathways to Complexity will help set the agenda for investigation of ancient Maya origins for many years to come.”—Christopher A. Pool, author of Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica

“An exciting volume with new discoveries, surprising evidence, bold interpretations, and much internal debate. These chapters will pull any serious archaeologist into the controversies concerning the rise of early Maya civilization.”—Arthur A. Demarest, Ingram Chair in Anthropology, Vanderbilt University

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