Architecture and the Origins of Preclassic Maya Politics

This book examines the emergence of political institutions in Maya civilization through studies of landscape, architecture and material culture. "Architecture and the Origins of Preclassic Maya Politics highlights the dramatic changes in the relationship of ancient Maya peoples to the landscape and to each other in the Preclassical period (ca. 2000 BC-250 AD). Offering a comprehensive history of Preclassic Maya society, James Doyle focuses on recent discoveries of early writing, mural painting, stone monuments, and evidence of divine kingship that have reshaped our understanding of cultural developments in the first millennium BC. He also addresses one of the crucial concerns of contemporary archaeology: the emergence of political authorities and their subjects in early complex polities. Doyle shows how architectural trends in the Maya Lowlands in the Preclassic period exhibit the widespread cross-cultural link between monumental architecture of imposing intent, human collaboration, and urbanism"-- "The study of ancient politics is a messy endeavor. The basic questions are not the problems: how did past societies organize themselves, and how and why did those organizational strategies succeed or fail? Yet archaeologists can only glean social choices and cultural meanings from materials, architecture, and by identifying where people built their lives. Acknowledging the inherent challenges we face to understand fully how ancient peoples conceived and narrated their own beliefs, this book puts forth a new take on an old story to understand how political authorities emerged"-- Cover 1 Half-title page 3 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Contents 7 Figures 9 Preface and Acknowledgments 13 One Introduction 17 The Preclassic Maya 18 Overview of the Ancient Maya 19 Pushing the Limits 21 Constructing Social Meanings 22 Urbanism and Politics 25 Social Transformations: Gathering, Monumentalization, and Abandonment as Resilience 28 Two Setting 31 Preclassic Cultural Traditions 32 Central Lowlands 34 Petén Lakes and Eastward 35 Southern Plateau Boundary 38 El Mirador Area 39 El Palmar, Guatemala: Case Study 40 Three Mesoamerican and Maya Monumentality, Identity, and Politics 42 The Archaeology of Monumentality 43 Mesoamerican Monumentality and Kingship 44 Maya Monumentality 46 Maya Invisible Dwellings and Invisible Gatherings 47 The First (Detectable) Settlements: 1000–700 BC 49 The Rise of Rectangularity: 700–500 BC 50 Conclusions 52 Four Middle Preclassic Maya E-Group Plazas: Distribution and Geopolitics, 800–300 BC 53 Early Maya Construction Techniques 55 E-Groups 58 E-Group Chronology 63 E-Group Form 74 E-Group Distribution and Early Maya Politics 75 Constructing E-Group Meaning in the Middle Preclassic 79 Religious Implications 79 Conclusions 85 Five The Architecture and Spaces of the Early Ajaw, ca. 300–1 BC 87 Late Preclassic Maya Architectural Techniques 88 Central Lowlands Monumental Architecture and Sculpture 91 The Monumentalization of E-Groups 91 Late Preclassic El Palmar E-Group Chronology 95 Central Lowlands Triadic Groups 97 Investigations in the El Palmar Triadic Group 104 Triadic Groups and Late Preclassic Site Planning 106 Prior Research on Maya Site Planning 106 The Triadic Group and Preclassic Maya Site Planning 107 Meanings of Late Preclassic Site Planning 111 Monumental E-Groups: Under Whose Authority? 119 Conclusions: Motivations for and Effects of Maya Monumentalization 122 Six Migration and Abandonment 125 The Archaeology of Abandonment and " Collapse" 127 The First Maya "Collapse" : The End of the Preclassic 128 Settlement Rupture: Abandonment and Continuity in the Central Lowlands 130 Unsustainable Buildings: Monumental Triadic Groups 139 Material Changes: The Elusive Protoclassic 141 Incomplete Collapse of El Palmar: Abandonment and Resilience 145 Conclusions 155 Seven The Preclassic Big Picture 156 Conclusions 156 Archaeology of Emerging Maya Politics 159 Final Considerations 161 Bibliography 163 Index 184 "The study of ancient politics is a messy endeavor. The basic questions are not the problems: how did past societies organize themselves, and how and why did those organizational strategies succeed or fail? Yet archaeologists can only glean social choices and cultural meanings from materials, architecture, and by identifying where people built their lives. Acknowledging the inherent challenges we face to understand fully how ancient peoples conceived and narrated their own beliefs, this book puts forth a new take on an old story to understand how political authorities emerged"-- Provided by publisher