Ancestral Maya Economies in Archaeological Perspective

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Description

The decipherment of Maya hieroglyphs has enabled scholars to raised keep in mind Classic society, but many aspects of this civilization remain shrouded in mystery, particularly its economies and social structures. How did farmers, artisans, and rulers make a living in a tropical forest environment? On this study, Patricia McAnany tackles this query and presents the first comprehensive view of ancestral Maya economic practice. Bringing an archaeological technique to the subject, she demonstrates the necessary role of ritual practice in indigenous ecologies, gendered labor, and the construction of colossal architecture. Examining Maya royalty as a type of social speciation, McAnany also shows the fundamentality of social difference in addition to the pervasiveness of artisan production and marketplaces in ancestral Maya societies. Her analysis of royal iconography and hieroglyphic texts provides evidence of a political economy dominated by tribute extraction, thus lifting the veil of opacity over the operation of palace economies. Written in an engaging and accessible style, this book situates Maya economies within latest social, political, and economic theories of social practice, gender, actor-networks, inalienable goods, materiality, social difference, indigenous ecologies, and strategies of state finance.

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