The Pre-Columbian Maya were organized into a series of independent
kingdoms or polities rather than unified into a single state. The vast
majority of studies of Maya states focus on the apogee of their
development in the classic period, ca. 250-850 C.E. As a result, Maya
states are defined according to the specific political structures that
characterized classic period lowland Maya society. The Origins of Maya
States is the first study in over 30 years to examine the origins and
development of these states specifically during the preceding preclassic
period, ca. 1000 B.C.E. to 250 C.E.
Attempts to understand the origins of Maya states cannot escape the
limitations of archaeological data, and this is complicated by both the
variability of Maya states in time and space and the interplay between
internal development and external impacts. To mitigate these factors,
editors Loa P. Traxler and Robert J. Sharer assemble a collection of
essays that combines an examination of topical issues with regional
perspectives from both the Maya area and neighboring Mesoamerican
regions to highlight the role of interregional interaction in the
evolution of Maya states. Topics covered include material signatures for
the development of Maya states, evaluations of extant models for the
emergence of Maya states, and advancement of new models based on recent
archaeological data. Contributors address the development of complexity
during the preclassic era within the Maya regions of the Pacific coast,
highlands, and lowlands and explore preclassic economic, social,
political, and ideological systems that provide a developmental context
for the origins of Maya states.
Contributors: Marcello A. Canuto, John E. Clark, Ann Cyphers,
Francisco Estrada-Belli, David C. Grove, Norman Hammond, Richard D.
Hansen, Eleanor King, Michael Love, Simon Martin, Astrid Runggaldier,
Robert Sharer, Loa Traxler.
