THE CLASSIC MAYA

In the first millennium AD, the Classic Maya created courtly societies in and around the Yucatan Peninsula, leaving some of the most striking intellectual and aesthetic achievements of the ancient world, at large settlements like Tikal, Copan, and Palenque. This book is the first in-depth synthesis of the Classic Maya. It is richly informed by new decipherments of hieroglyphs and decades of intensive excavation and survey. Structured by categories of the person in society, it reports on kings, queens, nobles, gods, and ancestors, as well as the many millions of farmers and other figures who lived in societies predicated on sacred kingship and varying political programs. The Classic Maya presents a tandem model of societies bound by moral covenants and convulsed by unavoidable tensions between groups, all affected by demographic trends and changing environments. Focusing on the Classic heartland but referring to other zones, it will serve as the basic source for all readers interested in the civilization of the Maya.

Stephen D. Houston is the Dupee Family Professor of Social Sciences at Brown University. The author of numerous books and articles, he is also an archaeologist who has excavated and mapped Classic Maya cities for more than twenty-five years. A MacArthur Fellow, Houston is also the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation.

Takeshi Inomata is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. He has conducted archaeological investigations at the Maya Center of Aguateca and at Ceibal in Guatemala. His numerous publications examine Maya political organization, warfare, architecture, households, and social change.

CAMBRIDGE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY

The Cambridge World Archaeology series is addressed to students and professional archaeologists, and to academics in related disciplines. Most volumes present a survey of the archaeology of a region of the world, providing an up-to-date account of research and integrating recent findings with new concerns of interpretation. Although the focus is on a specific region, broader cultural trends are discussed and the implications of regional findings for cross-cultural interpretations considered. The authors also bring anthropological and historical expertise to bear on archaeological problems and show how both new data and changing intellectual trends in archaeology shape inferences about the past. More recently, the series has expanded to include thematic volumes.

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Stephen D. Houston

Brown University

Takeshi Inomata

University of Arizona

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© Stephen D. Houston and Takeshi Inomata 2009

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2009

Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication dataHouston, Stephen D.The classic Maya / Stephen D. Houston, Takeshi Inomata.p. cm. – (Cambridge world archaeology)Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-0-521-66006-8 (hardback) – ISBN 978-0-521-66972-6 (pbk.)1. Mayas – Mexico – Yucatán (State). 2. Mayas – Mexico – Yucatán (State) – Antiquities.3. Yucatán (Mexico : State) – Antiquities. I. Inomata, Takeshi. II Title. III. Series.F1435.H795 2010972′.6501–dc22 2009020200

ISBN 978-0-521-66006-8 Hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-66972-6 Paperback

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Contents

LIST OF FIGURES