3000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands

<p>3000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands presents the cutting-edge research of 25 authors in the fields of archaeology biological anthropology art history ethnohistory and epigraphy. Together they explore issues central to ancient Maya identity political history and warfare.</p><p>The Maya lowlands of Guatemala Belize and southeast Mexico have witnessed human occupation for at least 11000 years and settled life reliant on agriculture began some 3100 years ago. From the earliest times Maya communities expressed their shifting identities through pottery architecture stone tools and other items of material culture. Although it is tempting to think of the Maya as a single unified culture they were anything but homogeneous and differences in identity could be expressed through violence. <i>3000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands</i> explores the formation of identity its relationship to politics and its manifestation in warfare from the earliest pottery-making villages through the late colonial period by studying the material remains and written texts of the Maya.</p><p>This volume is an invaluable reference for students and scholars of the ancient Maya including archaeologists art historians and anthropologists.</p>