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Preface
- University Press of Colorado
- Chapter
- Additional Information
This volume includes approximately 360 authored reports pertaining to the ancient and modern Maya and submitted by a variety of researchers from the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) between 1913 and 1958. Originally published in the annual Year Books of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, these reports provide basic information about the ancient and mid-twentieth-century Maya people of the southern Mexican states of Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Yucatán, and the parts of Tabasco and Veracruz, as well as Belize (British Honduras), Guatemala , and the western parts of Honduras and El Salvador (Figures 1 and 2). Although much of the material has been presented in formal monographs, most of these monographs have a highly limited distribution and there still remains much information never published outside the Year Book series. We seek to remedy this situation because not only are the reports presented in this volume interesting in their own right as archaeological research, but more importantly they document the accomplishments and achievements of Preface 1 the most significant anthropological project ever undertaken to examine a single anthropological or archaeological region. One result of the CIW Maya program was the development of the standard image of Maya civilization, one that overwhelmingly emphasizes the activities and achievements of the upper class. As promoted vigorouslybySylvanusG .MorleyandJ.EricS.Thompson, the Maya as people sui generis were believed to be extraordinarily spiritual, knowledgeable priests, unconcerned with material matters in a life without wars; a people of philosophers and astronomers. The image was of a series of elaborate ceremonial centers, each supported by an extensive slash-and-burn agricultural system. The principal inhabitants of these centers were the kings and priests and their retainers. The farmers lived scattered around the nearly vacant centers. The privileged concentrated on intellectual and religious concerns,carvedmonumentswithesotericcontent,and lived relatively peaceful existences. The farmers supported the residents of the centers with food and were T H E C A R N E G I E M A Y A 2 INTRODUCTION mobilized by the rulers for occasional large construction projects. In return, the priests interceded with the deities to provide an orderly world with predictable rain and abundant crop yields. Archaeologists emphasized not only the elite aspects of ancient Maya society, but also the Classic period in the Petén lowlands of northernGuatemalaandinadjacentBelizeand Mexico. It was here that the major settlements were located. Since the closing of the CIW Maya program, research in southern Mesoamerica and northern Central America has increased in frequency, scope, and significance. Universities are now primary sponsors of archaeological, linguistic, and ethnographic research in the Maya region. This research has resulted in major revisions to the scholarly understanding of Maya civilization. New studies of hieroglyphic inscriptions and breakthroughs in decipherment have detailed the history of previously anonymous Maya rulers and their interactions. These inscriptions have revealed a political landscape of the Maya lowlands indicating that the Maya world was not peaceful, but strained by endemic warfare. The current scientific vision of the ancient Maya is the result of new methodological approaches in archaeology , epigraphy, iconography, history, history of religions, history of art, physical anthropology, and linguistics, which have been integrated into interdisciplinary projects along with other scientific fields, such as biology and astronomy. An increasing willingness by archaeologists and other scholars to contextualize their research within more sophisticated theoretical and methodological constructs as a result of improved academic training in anthropology has produced an emerging understanding and appreciation of the nature and magnitude of Maya civilization. Butitisonlyfairtorecognizethattheseapproaches are firmly rooted in the work of the CIW Mayanists. Our greatest debt is to the archaeologists, ethnographers , linguists, ethnohistorians, and other researchersoftheCIWwhoprovidedtheinformationpublished in this volume. The CIW Maya program in southern Mesoamerica is no more; it has been modified, expanded , and replaced by several generations of new scholars. Its legacy, however, stands as a firm foundation upon which an entire field of study was based. During the course of assembling this volume, we have had the good fortune to find many individuals who enthusiastically have supported this project. Grateful acknowledgment is made to Ms. Patricia Craig and Ms. Tina McDowell at Carnegie Institution of Washington headquarters in Washington, D.C., for granting permission to reprint the contents of this volume . The support of Mr. H. Carton Rogers, Vice Provost and Director of Libraries, University of Pennsylvania Libraries, and Dr. Richard M. Leventhal, Williams Director , University of Pennsylvania Museum ofArchaeology and Anthropology, are acknowledged with thanks. The facilities and collections at the Museum Library and the Van Pelt...