دانلود کتاب The Lowland Maya Postclassic

”A turning point in the study of an area and a time that are crucial to our knowledge of the Maya before and during the conquest.”—George Stuart, National Geographic SocietyAlthough Maya archaeology has witnessed almost a century of work in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, its primary focus has been the Preclassic (ca. 2000 B.C. to A.D. 250) and Classic (ca. A.D. 250 to A.D. 900) periods. Due to the paucity of excavated data, the treatment of the Postclassic period, what created it and how it ended, has been largely hypothetical and romanticized. This collection of original and unpublished research represents a major step forward in understanding the era from the end of Classic Maya civilization to the Spanish conquest.The volume presents an entirely updated picture of Postclassic Maya civilization in the Southern Lowlands. The predominant focus is on the traditional heartland of the Classic Maya, but the areas that border this region are also considered in order to place the Postclassic Maya into a broader context. The Maya collapse, formerly seen as having caused an almost total void in the Southern Lowlands, is largely disavowed through the archaeological information presented. These studies emphasize the vibrant and changing quality of Postclassic Maya society prior to the onset of Spanish domination. They also exemplify the new research directions and problems that are being investigated within the Maya discipline.The primary method of approaching the Postclassic period for the participants in this volume has been through archaeological investigation and analysis. A strong infusion of ethnohistoric data is, however, also present as an aid to interpretation. In some instances, the conjunction of ethnohistoric and archaeological data has resulted in a reinterpretation of the extant ethnohistory as well as the delineation of specific problems for future archaeological research.Arlen F. Chase is visiting assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Prudence M. Rice is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Florida and associate curator of archaeology at the Florida State Museum in Gainesville.