The ancient Maya shaped their world with stone tools. Lithic artifacts helped create the cityscape, were central to warfare and hunting, were key to craft activities, were used to process food, and were employed in ritual performance. This volume expands our understanding of the past by considering Maya lithic artifacts made of chert, obsidian, silicified limestone, and jade. Using these as sources of data, lithic specialists examine the relationship between ancient people and natural resources, and ask questions regarding social organization and political economy. The editors bring together a detailed, comprehensive view of Maya stone artifacts that is crafted from new research, progressive analytical methods, and innovative anthropological theory. Thought provoking introductions and conclusions contextualize the past thirty years of research on Maya stone tools and look to the future of the field. Particular emphasis is given not to lithic technology, but to lithic systems as a technology of civilization. Stone artifacts were not merely cultural products, but, in conjunction with the people who used them, were tools that reproduced, modified, and created the fabric of society. Case studies based on original data collected at archaeological sites in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, and Honduras form the bulk of the volume. Limitations presented by the availability of resources, the social context of production, the control of technology and esoteric knowledge, and political economy are key issues addressed by the contributors. The concluding remarks argue that Maya lithic analysis needs to expand to include more than studies of political economy. The chapters in this innovative volume do just that.

The ancient Maya shaped their world with stone tools. Lithic artifacts helped create the cityscape and were central to warfare and hunting, craft activities, cooking, and ritual performance. 'The Technology of Maya Civilization' examines Maya lithic artefacts made of chert, obsidian, silicified limestone, and jade to explore the relationship between ancient civilizations and natural resources. The volume presents case studies of archaeological sites in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. The analysis draws on innovative anthropological theory to argue that stone artefacts were not merely cultural products but tools that reproduced, modified, and created the fabric of society.

This engaging exploration of the Maya pantheon introduces readers to the complex stories of Mesoamerican divinity through the stunning carvings, ceramics, and metalwork of the Classic period Focusing on the period between A.D. 250 and 900, Lives of the Gods reveals that ancient Maya artists evoked a pantheon as rich and complex as the more familiar Greco-Roman, Hindu-Buddhist, and Egyptian deities. The authors show how this powerful cosmology informed some of the greatest creative achievements of Maya civilization, represented here from the monumental to the miniature through more than 140 works in jade, stone, and clay. Thematic chapters supported by new scholarship on recent archaeological discoveries detail the different types of gods and their domains, the role of the divine in the lives of the ancient Maya, and the continuation of these traditions from the colonial period through the present day. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (November 21, 2022-April 2, 2023) Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (May 7-September 3, 2023)

A nuanced look at Maya mythology, from the literary record of the Popol Vuh to a broad range of artistic depictions by ancient Maya artists

"The Decipherment of Ancient Maya Writing" is an important story of intellectual discovery and a tale of code breaking comparable to the interpreting of Egyptian hieroglyphs and the decoding of cuneiform. Using classic articles taken from publications unavailable to most readers, accounts by Spaniards who witnessed the writing of the glyphs and research by twentieth-century scholars--from Tatiana Proskouriakoff to Michael Coe--this book provides a history of the interpretation of Maya hieroglyphs. Introductory essays offer the historical context and describe the personalities and theories of the many authors who contributed to the understanding of these ancient glyphs.

More than two hundred line drawings illustrate the text and serve as an introduction to decipherment. This landmark work in Maya studies is the first book to examine the centuries of thought behind the decoding of Maya hieroglyphs.