How The Maya Built Their World

Author : Elliot M. Abrams
Publisher : University of Texas Press
Page : 193 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2010-06-04
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780292792388

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How the Maya Built Their World by Elliot M. Abrams Pdf

Maya architecture is often described as "massive" and "monumental," but experiments at Copan, Honduras, convinced Elliot Abrams that 300 people could have built one of the large palaces there in only 100 days. In this groundbreaking work, Abrams explicates his theory of architectural energetics, which involves translating structures into volumes of raw and manufactured materials that are then multiplied by the time required for their production and assembly to determine the labor costs of past construction efforts. Applying this method to residential structures of the Late Classic period (A.D. 700-900) at Copan leads Abrams to posit a six-tiered hierarchic social structure of political decision making, ranging from a stratified elite to low-ranking commoners. By comparing the labor costs of construction and other economic activities, he also prompts a reconsideration of the effects of royal construction demands on commoners. How the Maya Built Their World will interest a wide audience in New and Old World anthropology, archaeology, architecture, and engineering.

Author : Scott R. Hutson,Traci Ardren
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 983 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2020-06-17
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781351029568

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The Maya World by Scott R. Hutson,Traci Ardren Pdf

The Maya World brings together over 60 authors, representing the fields of archaeology, art history, epigraphy, geography, and ethnography, who explore cutting-edge research on every major facet of the ancient Maya and all sub-regions within the Maya world. The Maya world, which covers Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador, contains over a hundred ancient sites that are open to tourism, eight of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and many thousands more that have been dug or await investigation. In addition to captivating the lay public, the ancient Maya have attracted scores of major interdisciplinary research expeditions and hundreds of smaller projects going back to the 19th century, making them one of the best-known ancient cultures. The Maya World explores their renowned writing system, towering stone pyramids, exquisitely painted murals, and elaborate funerary tombs as well as their creative agricultural strategies, complex social, economic, and political relationships, widespread interactions with other societies, and remarkable cultural resilience in the face of historical ruptures. This is an invaluable reference volume for scholars of the ancient Maya, including archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists.

Author : Lewis Spence
Publisher : Courier Dover Publications
Page : 64 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2019-11-13
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780486845005

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The Popol Vuh by Lewis Spence Pdf

Transcribed from Mayan hieroglyphs, the Popol Vuh relates the mythology and history of the Kiché people of Central America. There is no document of greater importance to the study of pre-Columbian mythology.

Author : Damien B. Marken,M. Charlotte Arnauld
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
Page : 493 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2023-07-23
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781646424092

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Building an Archaeology of Maya Urbanism by Damien B. Marken,M. Charlotte Arnauld Pdf

Building an Archaeology of Maya Urbanism tears down entrenched misconceptions of Maya cities to build a new archaeology of Maya urbanism by highlighting the residential dynamics that underwrote one of the most famous and debated civilizations of the ancient Americas. Exploring the diverse yet interrelated agents and processes that modified Maya urban landscapes over time, this volume highlights the adaptive flexibility of urbanization in the tropical Maya lowlands. Integrating recent lidar survey data with more traditional excavation and artifact-based archaeological practices, chapters in this volume offer broadened perspectives on the patterns of Maya urban design and planning by viewing bottom-up and self-organizing processes as integral to the form, development, and dissolution of Classic lowland cities alongside potentially centralized civic designs. Full of innovative examples of how to build an archaeology of urbanism that can be applied not just to the lowland Maya and across the region, Building an Archaeology of Maya Urbanism simultaneously improves interpretations of lowland Maya culture history and contributes to empirical and comparative discussions of tropical, non-Western cities worldwide. Contributors: Divina Perla Barrera, Arianna Campiani, Cyril Castanet, Adrian S. Z. Chase, Lydie Dussol, Sara Dzul Góngora, Keith Eppich, Thomas Garrison, María Rocio González de la Mata, Timothy Hare, Julien Hiquet, Takeshi Inomata, Eva Lemonnier, José Francisco Osorio León, Marilyn Masson, Elsa Damaris Menéndez, Timothy Murtha, Philippe Nondédéo, Keith M. Prufer, Louise Purdue, Francisco Pérez Ruíz, Julien Sion, Travis Stanton, Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo, Karl A. Taube, Marc Testé, Amy E. Thompson, Daniela Triadan

Author : Matthew Restall
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Page : 458 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 1999-02-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780804765008

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The Maya World by Matthew Restall Pdf

This pathbreaking work is a social and cultural history of the Maya peoples of the province of Yucatan in colonial Mexico, spanning the period from shortly after the Spanish conquest of the region to its incorporation as part of an independent Mexico. Instead of depending on the Spanish sources and perspectives that have formed the basis of previous scholarship on colonial Yucatan, the author aims to give a voice to the Maya themselves, basing his analysis entirely on his translations of hundreds of Yucatec Maya notarial documents—from libraries and archives in Mexico, Spain, and the United States—most of which have never before received scholarly attention. These documents allow the author to reconstruct the social and cultural world of the Maya municipality, or cah, the self-governing community where most Mayas lived and which was the focus of Maya social and political identity. The first two parts of the book examine the ways in which Mayas were organized and differentiated from each other within the community, and the discussion covers such topics as individual and group identities, sociopolitical organization, political factionalism, career patterns, class structures, household and family patterns, inheritance, gender roles, sexuality, and religion. The third part explores the material environment of the cah, emphasizing the role played by the use and exchange of land, while the fourth part describes in detail the nature and significance of the source documentation, its genres and its language. Throughout the book, the author pays attention to the comparative contexts of changes over time and the similarities or differences between Maya patterns and those of other colonial-era Mesoamericans, notably the Nahuas of central Mexico.

Author : Amie Jane Leavitt
Publisher : The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc
Page : 80 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2019-12-15
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
ISBN : 9781725341517

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How STEM Built the Mayan Empire by Amie Jane Leavitt Pdf

Over its 2,700-year history, the Maya became one of the most complex and dominant indigenous civilizations in pre-Columbian America. They became masters in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics or STEM, as evident through the archaeological remains that still excite and intrigue people today. The Maya built massive civilizations with temples, palaces, extensive highway networks, and some of the largest pyramids in the world. This splendid book explores all these innovations and more, explaining how, why, and when the Mayan empire's greatest minds came up with unique STEM solutions to everyday problems.

Author : Lia Machel
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
Page : 139 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2011-11-11
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781477166246

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Time Portal: the World of the First Maya by Lia Machel Pdf

Time Portal: The World of the First Maya is a Guidebook on a journey that contains many startling Facts to show: Where the Maya people started their voyage to the new world in MesoAmericaWho appeared to the natives, built a City, and became a God Why the Maya fashioned Time and the Calendar as circular, not linearWhen settlers and traders from international roots came to live among them in One cultureRead about incredible archaeological discoveries to show that the Maya were adept at using techniques and materials, unknown to the Western world for centuries! Discover briefly, the latter decades of the Maya civilization, before the arrival of the Spaniards! Illustrations by the Author give the reader a sense of what Mayans celebrated, and how they were dressed to impress.

Author : Gary Westfahl
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 1424 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2015-04-21
Category : History
ISBN : 9781610694032

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A Day in a Working Life [3 volumes] by Gary Westfahl Pdf

Ideal for high school and college students studying history through the everyday lives of men and women, this book offers intriguing information about the jobs that people have held, from ancient times to the 21st century. This unique book provides detailed studies of more than 300 occupations as they were practiced in 21 historical time periods, ranging from prehistory to the present day. Each profession is examined in a compelling essay that is specifically written to inform readers about career choices in different times and cultures, and is accompanied by a bibliography of additional sources of information, sidebars that relate historical issues to present-day concerns, as well as related historical documents. Readers of this work will learn what each profession entailed or entails on a daily basis, how one gained entry to the vocation, training methods, and typical compensation levels for the job. The book provides sufficient specific detail to convey a comprehensive understanding of the experiences, benefits, and downsides of a given profession. Selected accompanying documents further bring history to life by offering honest testimonies from people who actually worked in these occupations or interacted with those in that field.

Author : Justin Jennings,Martha Cuevas García,Roberto López Bravo
Publisher : Royal Ontario Museum
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : History
ISBN : 0888544871

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Maya by Justin Jennings,Martha Cuevas García,Roberto López Bravo Pdf

Author : Patricia A Urban,Edward Schortman
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 366 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2019-03-04
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781000021172

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Archaeological Theory in Practice by Patricia A Urban,Edward Schortman Pdf

Many students view archaeological theory as a subject distinct from field research. This division is reinforced by the way theory is taught, often in stand-alone courses that focus more on logic and reasoning than on the application of ideas to fieldwork. Divorcing thought from action does not convey how archaeologists go about understanding the past. This book bridges the gap between theory and practice by looking in detail at how the authors and their colleagues used theory to interpret what they found while conducting research in northwest Honduras. This is not a linear narrative. Rather, the book highlights the open-ended nature of archaeological investigations in which theories guide research whose findings may challenge these initial interpretations and lead in unexpected directions. Pursuing those novel investigations requires new theories that are themselves subject to refutation by newly gathered data. The central case study is the writers’ work in Honduras. The interrelations of fieldwork, data, theory, and interpretation are also illustrated with two long-running archaeological debates, the emergence of inequality in southern Mesopotamia and inferring the ancient meanings of Stonehenge. The book is of special interest to undergraduate Anthropology/Archaeology majors and first- and second-year graduate students, along with anyone interested in how archaeologists convert the static materials we find into dynamic histories of long-vanished people.

Author : David Webster
Publisher : Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Page : 162 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2018-07-13
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781784918460

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The Population of Tikal: Implications for Maya Demography by David Webster Pdf

A demographic evaluation of an ancient Mayan citadel which helps to resolve debates about how the Maya made a living, the nature of their socio-political systems, how they created an impressive built environment, and places them in plausible comparative context with what is known about other ancient complex societies.

Author : Christine Garnaut
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 398 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2001-12-06
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9781576075692

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Encyclopedia of Architectural and Engineering Feats by Christine Garnaut Pdf

Encyclopedia of Architectural and Engineering Feats presents more than 200 achievements in architecture and structural engineering in all the inhabited continents, from prehistory to the present. An architect once described the built environment as "the manifestation of the human spirit in stone, wood, and steel." In this new volume, readers can explore the most innovative and magnificent architectural expressions of the human spirit, from pre-history to the present, from all parts of the world. Readers can visit the Acropolis and Chartres cathedral, along with less familiar places like the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, once the greatest city in sub-Saharan Africa, and China's 71 meter high, 1,200 year old Grand Buddha, carved from stone. They'll learn the secrets behind audacious engineering feats like the Panama Canal, the U.S. interstate highway system, and the Deltaworks in the Netherlands. They will discover that many of these awe-inspiring projects were not the work of trained architects and engineers, but of "underdeveloped" communities, where unified will, tight social organization, and shared commitment to a spiritual ideal were more important than the inventions of the Industrial Age.

Author : Dolores Moyano Martin,P. Sue Mundell
Publisher : University of Texas Press
Page : 956 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 1997-12-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0292752113

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Handbook of Latin American Studies by Dolores Moyano Martin,P. Sue Mundell Pdf

Beginning with volume 41 (1979), the University of Texas Press became the publisher of the Handbook of Latin American Stuides, the most comprehensive annual bibliography in the field. Compiled by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress and annotated by a corps of more than 130 specialists in various disciplines, the Handbook alternates from year to year between social sciences and humanities. The Handbook annotates works on Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the Guianas, Spanish South America, and Brazil, as well as materials covering Latin America as a whole. Most of the subsections are preceded by introductory essays that serve as biannual evaluations of the literature and research underway in specialized areas. The Handbook of Latin American Studies is the oldest continuing reference work in the field. Dolores Moyano Martin, of the Library of Congress Hispanic Division, has been the editor since 1977, and P. Sue Mundell has been assistant editor since 1994. The subject categories for Volume 55 are as follows: Anthropology (including Archaeology and Ethnology) Economics Electronic Resources for the Social Sciences Geography Government and Politics International Relations Sociology

Author : Julia A. Hendon,Lisa Overholtzer,Rosemary A. Joyce
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 432 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2021-04-09
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781119160915

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Mesoamerican Archaeology by Julia A. Hendon,Lisa Overholtzer,Rosemary A. Joyce Pdf

A unique and wide-ranging introduction to the major prehispanic and colonial societies of Mexico and Central America, featuring new and revised material throughout Mesoamerican Archaeology: Theory and Practice, Second Edition, provides readers with a diverse and well-balanced view of the archaeology of the indigenous societies of Mexico and Central America, helping students better understand key concepts and engage with contemporary debates and issues within the field. The fully updated second edition incorporates contemporary research that reflects new approaches and trends in Mesoamerican archaeology. New and revised chapters from first-time and returning authors cover the archaeology of Mesoamerican cultural history, from the early Gulf Coast Olmec, to the Classic and Postclassic Maya, to the cultures of Oaxaca and Central Mexico before and after colonization. Presenting a wide range of approaches that illustrate political, socio-economic, and symbolic interpretations, this textbook: Encourages students to consider diverse ways of thinking about Mesoamerica: as a linguistic area, as a geographic region, and as a network of communities of practice Represents a wide spectrum of perspectives and approaches to Mesoamerican archaeology, including coverage of the Postclassic and Colonial periods Enables readers to think critically about how explanations of the past are produced, verified, and debated Includes accessible introductory material to ensure that students and non-specialists understand the chronological and geographic frameworks of the Mesoamerican tradition Discusses recent developments in the contemporary theory and practice of Mesoamerican archaeology Presents new and original research by a team of internationally recognized contributors Mesoamerican Archaeology: Theory and Practice, Second Edition, is ideal for use in undergraduate courses on the archaeology of Mexico and Central America, as well as for broader courses on the archaeology of the Americas.

Author : Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt
Publisher : Nomad Press
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2012-06-01
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9781936749652

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MAYA by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt Pdf

Revised in 2012 Maya: Amazing Inventions You Can Build Yourself introduces readers ages 9–12 to the world of the ancient Maya, the most advanced and mysterious civilization of the New World. From ceremonial masks to hieroglyphics, and calendars to musical instruments, Maya: Amazing Inventions You Can Build Yourself gives readers a chance to experience how the Maya lived, cooked, worshipped, entertained themselves, and interacted with their neighbors through hands on building projects that use common household supplies. Detailed step-by-step instructions for each project are combined with historical facts and anecdotes, biographies, and trivia. Together they give kids a first-hand look at daily life in ancient Mesoamerica. .