Maya Palaces and Elite Residences: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Published by University of Texas Press 2003

Maya Palaces and Elite Residences

An Interdisciplinary Approach

Edited by: Jessica Joyce Christie

In the series The Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies

https://doi.org/10.7560/712447

Overview
Contents

About this book

Maya "palaces" have intrigued students of this ancient Mesoamerican culture since the early twentieth century, when scholars first applied the term "palace" to multi-room, gallery-like buildings set on low platforms in the centers of Maya cities. Who lived in these palaces? What types of ceremonial and residential activities took place there? How do the physical forms and spatial arrangement of the buildings embody Maya concepts of social organization and cosmology?

This book brings together state-of-the-art data and analysis regarding the occupants, ritual and residential uses, and social and cosmological meanings of Maya palaces and elite residences. A multidisciplinary team of senior researchers reports on sites in Belize (Blue Creek), Western Honduras (Copan), the Peten (Tikal, Dos Pilas, Aguateca), and the Yucatan (Uxmal, Chichen-Itza, Dzibilchaltun, Yaxuna). Archaeologist contributors discuss the form of palace buildings and associated artifacts, their location within the city, and how some palaces related to landscape features. Their approach is complemented by art historical analyses of architectural sculpture, epigraphy, and ethnography. Jessica Joyce Christie concludes the volume by identifying patterns and commonalties that apply not only to the cited examples, but also to Maya architecture in general.

Author / Editor information

Jessica Joyce Christie is Associate Professor of Art History in the School of Art at East Carolina University.

Reviews

This volume will become a standard reference in the literature of Maya studies and, more broadly, Mesoamerican archaeology. . . . Collectively, the articles touch on a wide range of epistemological, theoretical, and historical issues that have been recently raised concerning Maya palaces.

— David Freidel, Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology, Southern Methodist University

The volume provides insightful discussions and basic data on Maya palaces that will be devoured by Maya archaeologists in their quest to interpret, explain, and just describe the vast array of large stone buildings at Maya sites referred to generically as palaces. The papers in the volume make one think and ask more questions about power, authority, and their architectural expression in the ancient world.

— Heather McKillop, The Journal of Latin American Anthropology

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter One. Elite Residences at Blue Creek, Belize Thomas H. Guderjan, Robert J. Lichtenstein and C. Colleen Hanratty Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
Chapter Two. At Court in Copan Palace Groups of the Early Classic Loa P. Traxler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
Chapter Three. A Multipurpose Structure in the Late Classic Palace at Copan E. Wyllys Andrews V, Jodi L. Johnson, William F. Doonan, Gloria E. Everson, Kathryn E. Sampeck and Harold E. Starratt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Chapter Four. Palaces of the Royal Court at Tikal Peter D’Arcy Harrison Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
Chapter Five. The Political Acquisition of Sacred Geography The Murciélagos Complex at Dos Pilas Arthur Demarest, Kim Morgan, Claudia Wolley and Héctor Escobedo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
Chapter Six. Where Did Elites Live? Identifying Elite Residences at Aguateca, Guatemala Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
Chapter Seven. Access Patterns in Maya Royal Precincts Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
Chapter Eight. Evidence for the Functions and Meanings of Some Northern Maya Palaces Jeff Karl Kowalski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
Chapter Nine. The Function of a Maya Palace at Yaxuna A Contextual Approach James N. Ambrosino Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
Chapter Ten. Palace and Society in the Northern Maya Lowlands Edward B. Kurjack Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	274
Chapter Eleven. The Tripartite Layout of Rooms in Maya Elite Residences Symbolic Centering, Ritual Mediating, and Historical Governing Jessica Joyce Christie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291
Chapter Twelve. Conclusions Jessica Joyce Christie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	315
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	337

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 352
Illustrations
- Other: 91 b&w illus., 6 tables

eBook

Published: January 1, 2010
ISBN: 9780292798601