Ancient Maya Cities of the Eastern Lowlands

2016-10-05 Social Science

Author : Brett A. Houk
Release : 2016-10-05
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 747/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Ancient Maya Cities of the Eastern Lowlands by : Brett A. Houk

Download or read book Ancient Maya Cities of the Eastern Lowlands written by Brett A. Houk. This book was released on 2016-10-05. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Brings together for the first time all the major sites of this part of the Maya world and helps us understand how the ancient Maya planned and built their beautiful cities. It will become both a handbook and a source of ideas for other archaeologists for years to come."--George J. Bey III, coeditor of Pottery Economics in Mesoamerica "Skillfully integrates the social histories of urban development."--Vernon L. Scarborough, author of The Flow of Power: Ancient Water Systems and Landscapes "Any scholar interested in urban planning and the built environment will find this book engaging and useful."--Lisa J. Lucero, author of Water and Ritual For more than a century researchers have studied Maya ruins, and sites like Tikal, Palenque, Copán, and Chichén Itzá have shaped our understanding of the Maya. Yet cities of the eastern lowlands of Belize, an area that was home to a rich urban tradition that persisted and evolved for almost 2,000 years, are treated as peripheral to these great Classic period sites. The hot and humid climate and dense forests are inhospitable and make preservation of the ruins difficult, but this oft-ignored area reveals much about Maya urbanism and culture. Using data collected from different sites throughout the lowlands, including the Vaca Plateau and the Belize River Valley, Brett Houk presents the first synthesis of these unique ruins and discusses methods for mapping and excavating them. Considering the sites through the analytical lenses of the built environment and ancient urban planning, Houk vividly reconstructs their political history, considers how they fit into the larger political landscape of the Classic Maya, and examines what they tell us about Maya city building.

Ancient Maya Commerce

2017-03-01 Social Science

Author : Scott R. Hutson
Release : 2017-03-01
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 551/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Ancient Maya Commerce by : Scott R. Hutson

Download or read book Ancient Maya Commerce written by Scott R. Hutson. This book was released on 2017-03-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient Maya Commerce presents nearly two decades of multidisciplinary research at Chunchucmil, Yucatan, Mexico—a thriving Classic period Maya center organized around commercial exchange rather than agriculture. An urban center without a king and unable to sustain agrarian independence, Chunchucmil is a rare example of a Maya city in which economics, not political rituals, served as the engine of growth. Trade was the raison d’être of the city itself. Using a variety of evidence—archaeological, botanical, geomorphological, and soil-based—contributors show how the city was a major center for both short- and long-distance trade, integrating the Guatemalan highlands, the Gulf of Mexico, and the interior of the northern Maya lowlands. By placing Chunchucmil into the broader context of emerging research at other Maya cities, the book reorients the understanding of ancient Maya economies. The book is accompanied by a highly detailed digital map that reveals the dense population of the city and the hundreds of streets its inhabitants constructed to make the city navigable, shifting the knowledge of urbanism among the ancient Maya. Ancient Maya Commerce is a pioneering, thoroughly documented case study of a premodern market center and makes a strong case for the importance of early market economies in the Maya region. It will be a valuable addition to the literature for Mayanists, Mesoamericanists, economic anthropologists, and environmental archaeologists. Contributors: Anthony P. Andrews, Traci Ardren, Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, Timothy Beach, Chelsea Blackmore, Tara Bond-Freeman, Bruce H. Dahlin, Patrice Farrell, David Hixson, Socorro Jimenez, Justin Lowry, Aline Magnoni, Eugenia Mansell, Daniel E. Mazeau, Travis Stanton, Ryan V. Sweetwood, Richard E. Terry

Lost Maya Cities

2020-04-30 Social Science

Author : Ivan Sprajc
Release : 2020-04-30
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 228/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Lost Maya Cities by : Ivan Sprajc

Download or read book Lost Maya Cities written by Ivan Sprajc. This book was released on 2020-04-30. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hailed by The Guardian and other publications as “a real-life Indiana Jones,” Slovenian archaeologist Ivan Šprajc has been mapping out previously unknown Mayan sites in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula since 1996. Most recently, he was credited with the discovery of the Chactún and Lagunita sites in 2013 and 2014, respectively, helping to fill in what was previously one of the largest voids in modern knowledge of the ancient Maya landscape: the 2,800-square-mile Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in central Yucatán. Previously published in Šprajc’s native Slovenian and in German, this thrilling account of machete-wielding jungle expeditions has garnered enthusiastic reviews for its depictions of the efforts, dangers, successes, and disappointments experienced as the explorer-scientist searches out and documents ancient ruins that have been lost to the jungle for centuries. A skilled communicator as well as an experienced scholar, Šprajc conveys in eminently accessible prose a wealth of information on various aspects of the Maya culture, which he has studied closely for decades. The result is a deeply personal presentation of archaeological research on one of the most enigmatic civilizations of the ancient world. Generously illustrated, this book follows the chronology of Šprajc’s discoveries, focusing on what he considers the most interesting episodes. Those who specialize in Mesoamerican prehistory and archaeology will certainly relish Šprajc’s reports concerning his many field surveys and the discoveries that resulted. General readers, too, will enjoy his accounts of previously undocumented sites, ancient urban centers overtaken by the jungle, massive sculpted monuments, and mysterious hieroglyphic inscriptions.

The Ancient Maya

2013 Juvenile Nonfiction

Author : Jennifer Fretland VanVoorst
Release : 2013
Genre : Juvenile Nonfiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 641/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Ancient Maya by : Jennifer Fretland VanVoorst

Download or read book The Ancient Maya written by Jennifer Fretland VanVoorst. This book was released on 2013. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the Ancient Mayan civilization, including their religious views, intellectual achievements, and everyday life.

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