Book

The Maya / Michael D. Coe.

Summary:

The Maya has long been established as the best, most readable Introduction to the New World's greatest ancient civilization. In these pages Michael D. Coe distills a lifetime's scholarship for the general reader and student. --

The fully revised and expanded eighth edition incorporates the latest archaeological and epigraphic research, which continues to proceed at a fast pace. Among the finest new discoveries are the spectacular polychrome murals of Calakmul, which provide archaeological evidence for the importance of marketplaces in the Classic Maya cities as well as giving a unique glimpse into Maya daily life. Other recent finds relate to the initial peopling of the Maya area by Early Hunters and Archaic peoples. --

It is clear that the birth of Maya civilization lies not in the Classic but during the Preciassic period, above all in the Mirador Basin of northern Guatemala, where the builders of gigantic ancient cities erected the world's largest pyramid as early as 200 ec. In addition, the persistent influence of the precocious Olmec civilization of southeast Mexico on the development of complex society in the Maya area has become more apparent. These and other discoveries suggest that we must rethink what we mean by the term "Classic." --

This edition concludes with new historical evidence for the crucial role played by collaborationist native leaders, both Maya and non-Maya, in the Spanish conquest of the region. --Book Jacket.

Record details

ISBN: 9780500289020 (pbk.)
ISBN: 0500289026 (pbk.)
Physical Description: 280 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 25 cm.
Edition: 8th ed., fully rev. and expanded.
Publisher: [London ; Thames & Hudson, 2011.

Content descriptions

General Note:	"With 189 illustrations, 20 in color."
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-274) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Machine generated contents note: setting -- Natural resources -- Areas -- Periods -- Peoples and languages -- Climate change and its cultural impact -- Early hunters -- Archaic collectors and cultivators -- Early Preclassic villages -- Middle Preclassic expansion -- Preclassic Kaminaljuyu -- Maya lowlands -- birth of the calendar -- Hero Twins and the Creation of the World (box) -- Izapa and the Pacific Coast -- Kaminaljuyu and the Maya highlands -- Peten and the Maya lowlands -- Mirador Basin -- San Bartolo -- From Preclassic to Classic in the Maya lowlands -- Teotihuacan: military giant -- Esperanza culture -- Cerén: a New World Pompeii? -- Tzakol culture in the Central Area -- Copan in the Early Classic -- Northern Area -- Classic sites in the Central Area -- Copan and Quirigua -- Tikal -- Ca/akin111 -- Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, and Bonampak -- Petexbatun -- Palenque -- Coinalcalco and Tonina -- Classic sites in the Northern Area: Rio Bec, Chenes, and Coba -- Art of the Late Classic -- Great Collapse -- Ceibal and the Putun Maya -- Puuk sites in the Northern Area -- Terminal Classic at Chichen Itza -- Ek' Bahlam -- Cotzumalhuapa problem -- end of an era -- Toltec invasion and Chichen Itza -- Itza and the city of Mayapan -- independent states of Yucatan -- Central Area in the Post-Classic -- Maya-Mexican dynasties in the Southern Area -- Spanish Conquest -- farm and the chase -- Industry and commerce -- life cycle -- Society and politics -- universe and the gods -- earth and the gods -- Classic Maya Underworld -- Rites and ritual practitioners -- Numbers and the calendar -- sun and the moon -- celestial wanderers and the stars -- nature of Maya writing -- History graven in stone -- Maya superstates -- History and the supernatural -- Name-tagging -- Spiritual alter-egos -- new Spanish order -- highland Maya, yesterday and today -- Tzotzil Maya of Zinacantan -- Yucatec Maya -- War of the Castes -- Maya of Chan Kona -- Lakandon -- Uprising in Chiapas -- great terror -- Maya future.