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Fifteen - Summary and Conclusions: A Society of Kings

from Part III - A Political Anthropology for the Classic Maya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2020

Simon Martin
Simon Martin
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
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Summary

The Classic Maya represent a newly important topic for political anthropology and the study of pre-Modern societies. The decipherment of their script offers a trove of primary sources that allow us, uniquely in the ancient Americas, to compare and contrast a rich material record with a significant historical one. Whether our goal is to comprehend social power in its broadest sense, or to understand the nature of specific institutions such as monarchy, complex societies isolated from the cross-fertilisations of the Old World have clear comparative value. As such, what we can learn about the Maya casts useful light on universal themes and will be of wider relevance to the field.

Keywords

SocietyHegemonySynchronicDiachronicContractsPowerbrokersRhetoricMultipolityAuthorityLogics
Type
Chapter
Information
Ancient Maya Politics
A Political Anthropology of the Classic Period 150–900 CE
 , pp. 383 - 394
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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