Maya Political Science: Time, Astronomy, And The Cosmos (the Linda Schele Series In Maya And Pre-columbian Studies)

This monograph had its origins in about 1995 as an effort to synthesize data on the Late and Terminal Classic monuments of the Petén lakes area of Guatemala. I first presented my tentative thoughts about the role of may cycles in the Tikal region at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in San Francisco in 1996, in a paper prepared with skeptical coauthors, Don S. Rice and Grant D. Jones. About three years later, I sent out an intermediate but still preliminary articlelength version of these ideas to colleagues, and I am grateful to Will Andrews, Arthur Demarest, David Freidel, Norman Hammond, Joyce Marcus, and David Webster for their helpful suggestions and encouragement to pursue this line of reasoning. In the course of finalizing this manuscript, numerous other individuals shared useful data with me, including Tony Andrews, Clemency Coggins, and Kitty Emery. I am especially grateful to Bill Fash, Joyce Marcus, John Montgomery, and David Stuart for generously providing me with copies of illustrations to be reprinted in this book. I find myself particularly indebted to my Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), departmental colleague C. Andrew Hofling. Andy was extremely generous in sharing his Maya linguistic and epigraphic expertise, gently but insistently nudging me to dig deeper for substantiating data and suffering my contrarian presence in his Maya hieroglyphs class. He also arranged, through the kind generosity of Martha Macri, to whom I am extremely grateful, to make a copy of her Maya hieroglyphic database available to me and students working with me. Andy's heroism extended to reading the entire manuscript not once but twice! Without Andy's encouragement and support, this book would not have been written. (I quickly add that any errors are entirely my own responsibility.) I am also extremely grateful to Don Rice for his critiques, insights, and suggestions for clarification. In addition, I was privileged to count on his computer expertise-and patience through many dreary winter weekends-for many of the illustrations. Our four-footed "children"-Duner, Pee, Boz, and the late, great Yum Oliver-provided much-needed fuzz therapy 24/7. This project began as a matter of organizing background data for the continuing archaeological and historical research project, which I codirected with Don Rice and Grant Jones, funded by the National Science Foundation (grants DBS-9222373, SBR-9515443). Field research was carried out under permit from the Instituto de Antropología e Historia of Guatemala, and I appreciate their official support for the project. I especially acknowledge the codirectors of this project, Don S. Rice, for his encouragement and assistance, and José Rómulo Sánchez Polo, our Guatemalan field director, for his diplomacy and skills in making sure the project continued on course from year to year. Much of this book was written during a half-time sabbatical from my administrative duties, and I am grateful to John Koropchak and SUIC for providing me with this essential research leave. Last but most certainly not least, I thank an absolutely terrific group of current and former graduate students at SIUC, particularly (in the case of this text) Tim Pugh and Phil Wanyerka, as well as undergraduates Bethany Myers and Amber Napton, all of whom, through seminars, field seasons, and frequent conversations, provided important insights that forced me to sharpen my thinking. I say again: any errors that appear are, of course, entirely my own responsibility. xxii maya political science maya political science THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK figure 1.1 The Maya lowlands, showing major sites. frew 1973; Hill 1977). Ultimately, what archaeologists seek are syntheses of descriptive and chronological data with causal mechanisms that result in satisfyingly conclusive-or at least minimally plausibleexplanations of the events and processes of change in prehistory. Archaeologists' interpretations of the past have their conceptual basis in analogy and analogical reasoning. An analogy is a similarity that permits comparison, a relationship between the familiar and the unfamiliar that increases understanding of the latter. Analogical reasoning is a type of inferential argument used in logic, linguistics, mathematics, biology, and many social science fields, in which "one thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain respect on the basis of the Table 3.3. Retrograde order of naming K'atuns Ajaw within the 256-year cycle. Note that lajuntuns end on a day Ajaw that fits the descending numerical order. ## K'atun Maya Date Tzolk'in Ja'ab' ISBN-13: 9780292702615 Contents 10 List of Figures 12 Preface 16 Note on Orthography and Dates 20 Acknowledgments 22 Chapter 1. Introduction: Approaches to Maya Political Organization 26 Explanation, Analogy, and the Direct-Historical Approach 26 Sources for a Direct-Historical Approach: A Critical Review 32 Classic Period Hieroglyphic Inscriptions 32 Native Texts of the Postclassic and Colonial Periods 34 Spanish Colonial Documents 39 Dictionaries 41 Modern Ethnography 42 Maya Cosmology and Worldview 44 Chapter 2. Previous Reconstructions of Classic Maya Political Organization 47 Early Thoughts 47 The Political Geography of the Yucatan Maya 50 Twentieth-Century Ethnography 53 Site Size and Size-Hierarchy Models 56 Inscription-based Models 61 The Importance of Emblem Glyphs 65 Emblem Glyph–based (and Other) Decentralized Models 68 Emblem Glyph–based Centralized Models 72 Time and Its Cycles 76 Chapter 3. Maya Politico-Religious Calendrics 81 Maya Cosmology and Calendrical Science 81 Maya Calendars 82 Calendrical Origins 92 Calendrical Transformations 99 The Postclassic Maya May 100 The May and Its Seats 101 The Books of the Chilam B’alams and Rituals of the May 104 Overview 108 Chapter 4. Tikal as Early Seat of the May 110 Preclassic Ritual Architecture and K’atun Seats 111 Early Classic Tikal and Its Rulers 117 The Institution of Kingship 117 Tikal’s Dynastic Founding 119 Tikal’s Name and Emblem Glyph 123 The Dynasty Continues 125 The Central Mexican Presence 127 Tikal in the Middle Classic Period 131 The Meaning of the Middle 136 Overview 140 Chapter 5. Tikal’s Late and Terminal Classic Seating of the May 146 Tikal as Late Classic May Ku 146 Twin-Pyramid Groups 146 Tikal’s Late Classic Monuments 151 Late Classic Period–ending Monuments in Tikal’s Realm 169 Interpretations: Tikal’s Late Classic May Seating 171 Tikal and Its May Realm in the Terminal Classic Period 176 Monuments and Themes 177 Other Sites in Tikal’s Terminal Classic May Realm 181 Overview 191 Chapter 6. Other Classic Period May-based Realms 193 Copán, Honduras, and Quiriguá, Guatemala 193 Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico 207 Other Sites and Regions 216 Caracol, Belize 216 Palenque and Toniná, Chiapas, Mexico 219 Dos Pilas, Petén, Guatemala 222 Overview 225 Chapter 7. New Terminal Classic May Realms 229 The Southern Lowlands 229 Seibal as May Ku: Structure A-3 Monuments 231 Lake Petén Itzá 240 Ucanal 243 The Northern Lowlands 245 The Puuc Region 246 Chich’en Itza, Yucatán 251 Dzibilchaltún and Cobá 259 Overview 262 Chapter 8. Implications of the May Model 268 Identifying the May 268 Calendrical Rituals Involving Fire 270 Burner Rituals 271 New Year’s Ceremonies 273 Fire Walking 276 Ballcourts and the Ballgame 277 Maya “Warfare” 283 Dual Rulership 290 Overview 295 Chapter 9. Conclusion 300 Origin and Operation of the May System 305 The Classic Maya: A Theocratic State 309 Bibliography 316 Index 358 University,of,Texas,Press University of Texas Press

how Did The Ancient Maya Rule Their World? Despite More Than A Century Of Archaeological Investigation And Glyphic Decipherment, The Nature Of Maya Political Organization And Political Geography Has Remained An Open Question. Many Debates Have Raged Over Models Of Centralization Versus Decentralization, Superordinate And Subordinate Status--with Far-flung Analogies To Emerging States In Europe, Asia, And Africa. But Prudence Rice Asserts That Neither The Model Of Two Giant Superpowers Nor That Which Postulates Scores Of Small, Weakly Independent Polities Fits The Accumulating Body Of Material And Cultural Evidence.
In This Groundbreaking Book, Rice Builds A New Model Of Classic Lowland Maya (ad 179-948) Political Organization And Political Geography. Using The Method Of Direct Historical Analogy, She Integrates Ethnohistoric And Ethnographic Knowledge Of The Colonial-period And Modern Maya With Archaeological, Epigraphic, And Iconographic Data From The Ancient Maya. On This Basis Of Cultural Continuity, She Constructs A Convincing Case That The Fundamental Ordering Principles Of Classic Maya Geopolitical Organization Were The Calendar (specifically A 256-year Cycle Of Time Known As The May) And The Concept Of Quadripartition, Or The Division Of The Cosmos Into Four Cardinal Directions. Rice Also Examines This New Model Of Geopolitical Organization In The Preclassic And Postclassic Periods And Demonstrates That It Offers Fresh Insights Into The Nature Of Rulership, Ballgame Ritual, And Warfare Among The Classic Lowland Maya.

Annotation How did the ancient Maya rule their world? Despite more than a century of archaeological investigation and glyphic decipherment, the nature of Maya political organization and political geography has remained an open question. Many debates have raged over models of centralization versus decentralization, superordinate and subordinate status--with far-flung analogies to emerging states in Europe, Asia, and Africa. But Prudence Rice asserts that neither the model of two giant "superpowers" nor that which postulates scores of small, weakly independent polities fits the accumulating body of material and cultural evidence. In this groundbreaking book, Rice builds a new model of Classic lowland Maya (AD 179-948) political organization and political geography. Using the method of direct historical analogy, she integrates ethnohistoric and ethnographic knowledge of the Colonial-period and modern Maya with archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic data from the ancient Maya. On this basis of cultural continuity, she constructs a convincing case that the fundamental ordering principles of Classic Maya geopolitical organization were the calendar (specifically a 256-year cycle of time known as the may) and the concept of quadripartition, or the division of the cosmos into four cardinal directions. Rice also examines this new model of geopolitical organization in the Preclassic and Postclassic periods and demonstrates that it offers fresh insights into the nature of rulership, ballgame ritual, and warfare among the Classic lowland Maya How did the ancient Maya rule their world? Despite more than a century of archaeological investigation and glyphic decipherment, the nature of Maya political organization and political geography has remained an open question. Many debates have raged over models of centralization versus decentralization, superordinate and subordinate status — with far-flung analogies to emerging states in Europe, Asia, and Africa. But Prudence Rice asserts that neither the model of two giant 'superpowers' nor that which postulates scores of small, weakly independent polities fits the accumulating body of material and cultural evidence. In this groundbreaking book, Rice builds a new model of Classic lowland Maya (AD 179-948) political organization and political geography. Using the method of direct historical analogy, she integrates ethnohistoric and ethnographic knowledge of the Colonial-period and modern Maya with archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic data from the ancient Maya. On this basis of cultural continuity, she constructs a convincing case that the fundamental ordering principles of Classic Maya geopolitical organization were the calendar (specifically a 256-year cycle of time known as the may) and the concept of quadripartition, or the division of the cosmos into four cardinal directions. Rice also examines this new model of geopolitical organization in the Preclassic and Postclassic periods and demonstrates that it offers fresh insights into the nature of rulership, ballgame ritual, and warfare among the Classic lowland Maya. Builds a model of Classic lowland Maya (AD 179-948) political organization and political geography. Using the method of direct historical analogy, this book integrates ethnohistoric and ethnographic knowledge of the Colonial-period and modern Maya with archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic data from the ancient Maya.