Ancient Maya Politics: A Political Anthropology of the Classic Period 150-900 Ce

by Simon Martin

The Classic Maya have long presented scholars with vexing problems. One of the longest running and most contested of these, and the source of deeply polarized interpretations, has been their political organization. Using recently deciphered inscriptions and fresh archaeological finds, Simon Martin argues that this particular debate can be laid to rest. He offers a comprehensive re-analysis of the issue in an effort to answer a simple question: how did a multitude of small kingdoms survive for some six hundred years without being subsumed within larger states or empires? Using previously unexploited comparative and theoretical approaches, Martin suggests mechanisms that maintained a 'dynamic equilibrium' within a system best understood not as an array of individual polities but an interactive whole. With its rebirth as text-backed historical archaeology, Maya studies has entered a new phase, one capable of building a political anthropology as robust as any other we have for the ancient world.

Genres: Politics, Anthropology, History, Archaeology

536 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2020

Reviews

[Brendan Brink-Halloran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very dense academic book on a fairly obscure topic. But it brings together a great deal of evidence and thinking to offer the clearest understanding of how the ancient maya city states related to each other over the course of several centuries. If that's a topic that interests you, as it does me, then its worth a careful read.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, I loved this. If things like "oh my gosh, do you want to hear how network theory relates to Classic Maya polity relationships?" or "wow, here's a really detailed look at titles beyond Ajaw, Sajal, and Aj Tz'ib!" makes you excited, you want to read this book.

Though I do need to be honest: if this were a math textbook, it would be calculus. The scholarship and detail here is amazing, but I'm pretty sure I would have been lost if I'd dove into this one with no background in the subject. Michael D. Coe's "The Maya" or Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube's earlier work, "Chronicles of the Maya Kings and Queens" would be an easier starting point for someone who's interested in the subject. Someone with a scholarly background in archaeology/anthropology, history, or political science might be able to jump right in.

My only complaint about the book is that I wish it had come with a more detailed map showing the geography of the areas. Not a huge issue as there are maps elsewhere, but I was often reading not at home and wished there was a more comprehensive map to flip to. The other images/figures (graphs, photos, drawings of glyphs) were all superb.

This took me nearly two years to read, and I'm kinda sad to be finished. It was the book I brought with me while the kids had summer activities, because it is the kind of book I needed to read uninterrupted. I've taken it a lot of places, learned a lot, and took a ton of notes. It really felt like taking a correspondence grad school class without the grades.

Lastly, my favorite quote from the book, which is broadly applicable to many things: "There can be no monocausation in a complex world, nothing exists outside a myriad of interrelationships."

Anyway, this really is a stunning book and one I am very happy to have.

[Nathaniel Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Landmark Text in Maya Studies

This book is a must read for any interested in current scholarship on the Classical Maya period. It puts forward a clear argument based on advancements in the archaeology and epigraphy (study of the texts now revealed by translation of the Maya hieroglyphs) which outlines in a series of case studies why the Maya area featured a high number of small kingdoms, and never consolidated into a single ‘Mayan Empire’.

It is a book which, in its case studies, is relatively readable and engrossing. In its main set-up and the density of its language for the non-specialist, it is mostly aimed at fellow researchers and Mayanists. I do not recommend this book for anyone who has not at least read some of the Coe general audience Maya books.

[Hisham · Rating 5 out of 5]

They’re saying Spearthrower Owl played against plumbers and petty Ajaws and would never have made it during the era of prime Pakal the Great and Yuknoom Ch’een II