Approaches to Monumental Landscapes of the Ancient Maya

Brett A. Houk, Barbara Arroyo, Terry G. Powis

• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780813057347
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

This volume brings together a wide spectrum of new approaches to ancient Maya studies in an innovative exploration of how the Preclassic and Classic Maya shaped their world. Moving beyond the towering temples and palaces typically associated with the Maya civilization, contributors present unconventional examples of monumental Maya landscapes. Featuring studies from across the central Maya lowlands, Belize, and the northern and central Maya highlands and spanning over 10,000 years of human occupation in the region, these chapters show how the word "monumental" can be used to describe natural and constructed landscapes, political and economic landscapes, and ritual and sacred landscapes. Examples include a massive system of aqueducts and canals at the Kaminaljuyu site, a vast arena designed for public spectacle at Chan Chich, and even the complex realms of Maya cosmology as represented by the ritual cave at Las Cuevas. By including physical, conceptual, and symbolic ways monumentality pervaded ancient Maya culture, this volume broadens traditional understandings of how the Maya interacted with their environment and provides exciting analytical perspectives to guide future study. A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase

Table of contents

• Cover
• Approaches to Monumental Landscapes of the Ancient Maya
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• List of Figures
• List of Plates
• List of Tables
• Foreword
• Preface
• 1. How the Maya Shaped Their World
• 2. The Holocene Occupations of Southern Belize
• 3. The Natural and Constructed Landscape of Salinas de los Nueve Cerros, Guatemala
• 4. Ritual Practice, Urbanization, and Sociopolitical Organization at Preclassic Ceibal, Guatemala
• 5. From Urban Core to Vacant Terrain: Defining the Heterotopia of Maya Monumental Landscapes at the Crossroads of the Middle Belize River Valley
• 6. Caracol’s Impact on the Landscape of the Classic Period Maya: Urbanism and Complex Interaction in a Tropical Environment
• 7. The Monumental Aquascape of Kaminaljuyu: Water in the Archaeology of an Early Highland Site
• 8. All the World’s a Stage: The Late Classic Built Environment of Chan Chich, Belize
• 9. La Corona: Negotiating a Landscape of Power
• 10. Ancient Maya Queenship: Generations of Crafting State Politics and Alliance Building from Kaanul to Waka’
• 11. Landscapes of Warfare, Détente, and Trade in the Maya West
• 12. Monumental Landscapes as Instruments of Radical Economic Change: The Rise and Fall of a Maya Economic Network
• 13. A Discussion of Early Monumentality at Pacbitun, Belize
• 14. Monumental Landscapes, Changing Ideologies, and Political Histories in the Mopan Valley
• 15. Capturing the Forest: Ancient Maya Ritual Caves as Built Environments
• 16. Monumental Landscapes of the Maya: Cogitating on a Past Built Environment
• References
• List of Contributors
• Index