The Nature of an Ancient Maya City: Resources, Interaction, and Power at Blue Creek, Belize

by Guderjan, Thomas H.

• ISBN13: 9780817354268
• ISBN10: 0817354263
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-09
• Publisher: Univ of Alabama Pr

Summary

For two millennia, the site now known as Blue Creek in northwestern Belize was a Maya community that became an economic and political center that included some 15,000-20,000 people at its height. Fairly well protected from human destruction, the site offers the full range of city components including monumental ceremonial structures, elite and non-elite residences, ditched agricultural fields, and residential clusters just outside the core. Since 1992, a multi-disciplinary, multi-national research team has intensively investigated Blue Creek in an integrated study of the dynamic structure and functional inter-relationships among the parts of a single Maya city. Documented in coverage byNational Geographic,Archaeologymagazine, and a documentary film aired on the Discovery Channel, Blue Creek is recognized as a unique site offering the full range of undisturbed architectural construction to reveal the mosaic that was the ancient city. Moving beyond the debate of what constitutes a city, Guderjanrs"s long-term research reveals what daily Maya life was like.

Author Biography

Thomas H. Guderjan is the president of Maya Research Program, a non-profit research organization. He received his Ph.D. from Southern Methodist University and has been a faculty member at St. Mary’s University and Texas Christian University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Public Architecture, Ritual, and Temporal Dynamics	p. 19
The Spatial Arrangement of a Maya City	p. 49
Diversity of Power and Authority in a Maya City	p. 69
Agriculture as Blue Creek's Economic Base	p. 91
The Importance of Trade and Commerce at Blue Creek	p. 102
Power and Authority at Blue Creek	p. 119
Addressing Some Large and Small Issues	p. 129
Notes	p. 135
References Cited	p. 147
Index	p. 167
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