Approaches to Monumental Landscapes of the Ancient Maya: (Maya Studies)

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:
ContentList of Figures List of Plates List of Tables Foreword Preface 1.How the Maya Shaped Their World Marcello Canuto, Brett A. Houk, Barbara Arroyo, and Terry Powis2.The Holocene Occupations of Southern Belize Keith M. Prufer and Douglas J. Kennett3.The Natural and Constructed Landscape of Salinas de los Nueve Cerros, Guatemala Brent K. S. Woodfill and Marc Wolf4.Ritual Practice, Urbanization, and Sociopolitical Organization at Preclassic Ceibal, Guatemala Melissa Burham, Takeshi Inomata, Daniela Triadan, and Jessica MacLellan5.From Urban Core to Vacant Terrain: Defining the Heterotopia of Maya Monumental Landscapes at the Cross-roads of the Middle Belize Valley Eleanor Harrison-Buck, Mark Willis, Chester Walker, Satoru Murata, and Marieka Brouwer Burg6.Caracol's Impact on the Landscape of the Classic Period Maya: Urbanism and Complex Interaction in a Tropical Environment Diane Z. Chase, Arlen F. Chase, and Adrian S. Z. Chase7.The Monumental Aquascape of Kaminaljuyu: Water in the Archaeology of an Early Highland Site Bárbara Arroyo and Lucia Henderson8.All the World's a Stage: The Late Classic Built Environment of Chan Chich, Belize Brett A. Houk and Ashley Booher9.La Corona: Negotiating a Landscape of Power Marcello A. Canuto and Tomás Barrientos Q.10.Ancient Maya Queenship: Generations of Crafting State Politics and Alliance Building from Kaanul to Waka' Olivia C. Navarro-Farr, Keith Eppich, Griselda Pérez Robles, and David A. Freidel11.Landscapes of Warfare, Détente, and Trade in the Maya West Charles W. Golden and Andrew K. Scherer12.Monumental Landscapes as Instruments of Radical Economic Change: The Rise and Fall of a Maya Economic Network Arthur A. Demarest, Bart Victor, Chloé Andrieu, and Paola Torres13.A Discussion of Early Monumentality at Pacbitun, Belize Terry G. Powis, George Micheletti, Jon Spenard, and Sheldon Skaggs14.Monumental Landscapes, Changing Ideologies, and Political Histories in the Mopan Valley M. Kathryn Brown and Jason Yaeger15.Capturing the Forest: Ancient Maya Ritual Caves as Built Environments Holley Moyes16.Monumental Landscapes of the Maya: Cogitating on a Past Built Environment Arlen F. Chase and Diane Z. ChaseReferences List of Contributors Index

About the Author :
Brett A. Houk, associate professor of archaeology at Texas Tech University, is the author of Ancient Maya Cities of the Eastern Lowlands. Barbara Arroyo, director of the Kaminaljuyu Archaeological Project in Guatemala City, is coeditor of The Place of Stone Monuments: Context, Use, and Meaning in Mesoamerica's Preclassic Transition. Terry G. Powis, associate professor of anthropology at Kennesaw State University, is the editor of New Perspectives on Formative Mesoamerican Cultures.