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The Maya / Michael D. Coe, Stephen Houston.
LIBRA F1435 .C72 2015
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Coe, Michael D., author.
- Houston, Stephen D., author.
- Series:
- Ancient peoples and places (Thames and Hudson)
- Ancient peoples and places
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Mayas--Antiquities.
- Mayas.
- Indians of Mexico--Antiquities.
- Indians of Mexico.
- Indians of Central America--Antiquities.
- Indians of Central America.
- Mexico--Antiquities.
- Mexico.
- Antiquities.
- Central America--Antiquities.
- Central America.
- Physical Description:
- 320 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm.
- Edition:
- Ninth edition.
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Thames & Hudson, 2015.
- Summary:
- Coe and Houston update this classic, highly readable account of the New World's greatest ancient civilization, incorporating the most recent research in a fast-changing field. New discoveries of spectacular stucco sculptures at El Zotz and Holmul reveal surprising aspects of Maya royalty. Dramatic refinements in dating show that rather than gradual development, there were rapid bursts of building and political formation. Other finds include the discovery in an underwater cavern of the earliest known occupant of the region, the Hoyo Negro girl, and new evidence for the first architecture at Ceibal. It is clear that the birth of Maya civilization lies not in the Classic but during the Preclassic period, above all in the Mirador area of Guatemala with its gigantic ancient cities. The Classic Maya themselves can be understood as occupants of royal courts full of Machiavellian intrigue yet operating in close communion with gods and cosmos. Just-discovered texts at Xultun show a strong concern with astronomy and numerology as well as evidence of lost books. Chichen Itza, once thought to exhibit a mish-mash of different styles, now seems again to be a city with two phases, one purely Maya, the second strongly influenced by central Mexico. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- 1 Introduction 11
- The setting 14
- Natural resources 22
- Areas 24
- Periods 24
- Peoples and languages 26
- Climate change and its cultural impact 31
- 2 The Earliest Maya 41
- Early hunters 41
- Archaic collectors and cultivators 46
- Early Preclassic villages 49
- The Middle Preclassic expansion 52
- Preclassic Kaminaljuyu 55
- The Maya lowlands 57
- 3 The Rise of Maya Civilization 61
- The birth of the calendar 63
- Izapa and the Pacific Coast 68
- The Hero Twins and the Creation of the World (box) 70
- Kaminaljuyu and the Maya highlands 73
- The Peten and the Maya lowlands 80
- The Mirador region 85
- San Bartolo 87
- From Preclassic to Classic in the Maya lowlands 90
- 4 Classic Splendor: The Early Period 92
- Defining the Early Classic 98
- Teotihuacan: military giant 99
- 1 Lie Esperanza culture 103
- Cerén: a New World Pompeii? 107
- Tzakol culture in the Central Area 107
- Copan in the Early Classic 118
- The Northern Area 121
- 5 Classic Splendor: The Late Period 124
- Classic sites in the Central Area 126
- Copan and Quirigua 132
- Tikal 139
- Calakmul 144
- Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, and Bonampak 146
- The Petexbatun 150
- Palenque 151
- Comalcalco and Tonina 160
- Classic sites in the Northern Area: Rio Bee, Chenes, and Coba 161
- Art of the Late Classic 164
- 6 The Terminal Classic 174
- The Great Collapse 174
- Ceibal and the Putun Maya 177
- Puuc sites in the Northern Area 179
- The Terminal Classic at Chichen Itza 184
- Ek' Balam 194
- The Cotzumalhuapa problem 196
- The end of an era 198
- 7 The Postclassic 199
- The Toltec invasion and Chichen Itza 201
- The Itza and the city of Mayapan 215
- The independent states of Yucatan 219
- The Central Area in the Postclassic 223
- Maya-Mexican dynasties in the Southern Area 224
- The Spanish Conquest 227
- 8 Maya Life on the Eve of the Conquest 230
- The farm and the chase 230
- Industry and commerce 232
- The life cycle 233
- Society and politics 234
- 9 Maya Thought and Culture 237
- Being religious 242
- Ordering the universe 244
- Gods and spirits 252
- Numbers and the calendar 259
- The sun and the moon 261
- The celestial wanderers and the stars 262
- The nature of Maya writing 263
- History graven in stone 271
- The Great Game 274
- A possessed world 276
- 10 The Enduring Maya 279
- The new Spanish order 289
- The highland Maya, yesterday and today 290
- The Tsotsil Maya of Zinaeantan 292
- The Yukateko Maya 295
- The War of the Castes 295
- The Maya of Chan Kom 296
- The Lakandon 298
- Uprising in Chiapas 298
- The great terror 299
- The Maya future 300.
- Notes:
- "213 illustrations, 28 in color."
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 308-313) and index.
- ISBN:
- 0500291888
- 9780500291887
- OCLC:
- 911848911
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