... and politicians promote specific forms of heritage. Although some national programming focuses on history and culture beyond tangible Ancient Maya heritage and archaeologists increasingly engage in public archaeology, Kriol culture and history continue to be marginalized. Drawing from long-term research in two...

...2020 “Creating ‘the Maya’” begins with the paradox that the people we call Maya never thought of themselves as such. There was no unified Maya state, empire, or language. Historically, scholars have divided ancient Maya history into three periods: Preclassic, Classic...

...Ancient Maya, like other former agrarian societies of ancient times, had an abiding and intimate relationship with the natural world. Plants, trees, leaves, flowers, fruits, and roots were given a special niche in their system of symbols and these were firmly embedded into their spiritual outlook...

...This chapter discusses the social context that surrounded cacao drinking during the ancient Maya period. Cacao was both prized delicious food and a repository of financial strength in the Classic Maya society. Among the ruling elite of the Mayan culture, cacao and cacao-drinking were tightly...

... Honduras highlands Maya Hondo River Mirador region Guatemala northern plains zone Mexico terraces burnt lime chultuns subterranean cisterns dams milpa Classic Maya ancient Maya exceptionalism collapse breakdown microenvironments resilience Maya culture Maya history chronology Suffice...

... of the earliest scholarly investigations in the lowlands, it focuses more specifically on recent advances in technological and methodological approaches applied to the study of the ancient Maya. These include environmental science methods like lake core and mineral formation analyses, as well as microscopic...

... Belize regions hieroglyphs iconography iconographic analyses Sacapulas Guatemala mangroves Paynes Creek National Park Belize Wits Cah Ak’al Belize Aguateca Guatemala Caracol Belize Chixoy River ancient Maya Classic Maya burnt lime salt pit-kilns pyrotechnology forest management limestone...

... agriculture resilience theory managed mosaic Naachtun Central Mexico Ek Balam Mexico highlands Maya Muluchtzekel Mexico Sayil Mexico settlement pattern studies Spain Xcalumkin Mexico cenotes stelae ancient Maya Classic Maya collapse resilience drought warfare revolt overexploitation...

...Under an agricultural economy, the ancient Maya depended on plants for food. While most discussions of Maya subsistence focus on maize production, this study has undertaken an extensive review of the ethnographic and botanical literature and found nearly 500 Indigenous food plants, domesticated...

...Pottery sherds are the most abundant artifacts recovered from ancient Maya sites. Analyzed correctly, they reveal much about artistic expression, religious ritual, economic systems, cooking traditions, and cultural exchange in Maya society. Today, nearly every Maya archaeologist uses the type...

.... During these periods, archaeology focused almost exclusively on tangible forms of Ancient Maya culture and history and legitimized archaeological expertise and colonial and state power to manage archaeological heritage. However, even with the earliest archaeological expeditions in Belize, descendant...

... with the different levels of social hierarchy. In this chapter, we address the distribution of utilitarian goods in the ancient Maya economy through comparisons of lithic resources, particularly chert, in northwestern Petén and western Belize. We find that access to locally available raw materials affects...

... underutilized for ancient societies, and, even then, it is often restricted to evolutionary approaches that privilege modern technology. Here, innovation is embedded in specific cultural and historical contexts, specifically ancient Maya culture. Flower Mountain San Bartolo murals Classic Maya Maya culture...

...Within ancient Maya cosmology, the animate dead, along with other beings, required ritual nourishment through offerings so that all could thrive. Living family members needed not only to feed themselves, but also to offer food to cherished ancestors. However, there were distinctions between...

..., and manipulating 3D scans. Students post 3D scans to Sketchfab and share them on wix web sites that they each create.  Students post blog updates on their individual projects in which they 3D image ancient Maya ocarinas.  Applications of 3D imaging in the Maya area are discussed, including 3D printed replicas...

...The economies of the ancient Maya did not exist in vacuums; rather they were interconnected to each other. This chapter details the way in which one of these economies functioned during the Late Classic Period (A.D. 550–900). Archaeological research at Caracol, Belize, has been able to reconstruct...

...This chapter examines the material patterning of ceramic recovered from the ruin of the ancient Maya city of El Perú-Waka’. The patterns from different household assemblages indicate shifting patterns of economic activity, the different distribution of different ceramic categories aligning...

... and Yoffee terracing wetlands Yoffee Norman Questioning Collapse ancient Maya Mayan civilization Classic period royal dynasties demographic collapse The Classic Maya (250–900 ad) of southern and eastern Mesoamerica have long been famous for the purported catastrophic collapse...

... other purposes. Researchers use paleoenvironmental analyses including pollen, charcoal, and erosion analyses, as well as ethnohistoric and ethnographic analogies to understand how ancient Maya communities exploited and conserved their resources. Classic Period communities developed forest-management...

... Pulltrouser Swamp Belize Blue Creek Belize Colha Belize cenotes de Landa Diego northern plains zone Mexico Yalahau region Mexico Yaxnohcah Mexico sascab hurricanes ancient Maya Classic Maya agriculture three sisters wetland cultivation agricultural terraces lidar Ceren milpa cacao For much...