Thomas H. Guderjan - Böcker

Construction of Maya Spaces sheds new light on how Maya society may have shaped--and been shaped by--the constructed environment. Moving beyond the towering pyramids and temples often associated with Maya spaces, this volume focuses on how those in power used features such as walls, roads, rails, and symbolic boundaries to control those without power, and how the powerless pushed back.Through fifteen engaging chapters, contributors examine the construction of spatial features by ancient, historic, and contemporary Maya elite and nonelite peoples to understand how they used spaces differently. Through cutting-edge methodologies and case studies, chapters consider how and why Maya people connected and divided the spaces they used daily in their homes, in their public centers, in their sacred places such as caves, and across their regions to inform us about the mental constructs they used to create their lives and cultures of the past.ContributorsElias Alcocer PuertoAlejandra Alonso OlveraTraci ArdrenJaime J. AweAlejandra Badillo SánchezNicolas C. BarthGrace Lloyd BascopéAdolpho Iván Batún-AlpucheElizabeth BecknerM. Kathryn BrownBernadette CapMiguel Covarrubias ReynaJuan Fernandez DiazAlberto G. Flores ColinThomas H. GuderjanC. Colleen HanrattyHéctor Hernández ÁlvarezScott R. HutsonJoshua J. KwokaWhitney LytleAline MagnoniJennifer P. MathewsStephanie J. MillerShawn G. MortonHolley MoyesShannon PlankDominique RissoloPatrick RohrerCarmen Rojas SandovalJustine M. ShawJ. Gregory SmithTravis W. StantonKarl A. TaubeDaniel Vallejo-Cáliz

Jade, stone tools, honey and wax, ceramics, rum, land. What gave these commodities value in the Maya world, and how were those values determined? What factors influenced the rise and fall of a commodity's value? The Value of Things examines the social and ritual value of commodities in Mesoamerica, providing a new and dynamic temporal view of the roles of trade of commodities and elite goods from the prehistoric Maya to the present. Editors Jennifer P. Mathews and Thomas H. Guderjan begin the volume with a review of the theoretical literature related to the 'value of things.' Throughout the volume, well-known scholars offer chapters that examine the value of specific commodities in a broad time frame - from prehistoric, colonial, and historic times to the present. Using cases from the Maya world on both the local level and the macro-regional, contributors look at jade, agricultural products (ancient and contemporary), stone tools, salt, cacao (chocolate), honey and wax, henequen, sugarcane and rum, land, ceramic (ancient and contemporary), and contemporary tourist handicrafts. Each chapter author looks into what made their specific commodity valuable to ancient, historic, and contemporary peoples in the Maya region. Often a commodity's worth goes far beyond its financial value indeed, in some cases, it may not even be viewed as something that can be sold. Other themes include the rise and fall in commodity values based on perceived need, rarity or overproduction, and change in available raw materials the domestic labor side of commodities, including daily life of the laborers and relationships between elites and nonelites in production. Examining, explaining, and theorizing how people ascribe value to what they trade, this scholarly volume provides a rich look at local and regional Maya case studies through centuries of time.Contributors:Rani T. AlexanderDean E. ArnoldTimothy BeachBriana BiancoSteven BozarthTiffany C. CainScott L. FedickThomas H. GuderjanJohn GustEleanor Harrison-BuckBrigitte KovacevichSamantha KrauseJoshua J. KwokaRichard M. LeventhalSheryl Luzzadder-BeachJennifer P. MathewsHeather McKillopAllan D. MeyersGary RaysonMary Katherine ScottE. Cory Sills

This work is a comprehensive study of a unique Maya site offering the full range of undisturbed architectural features. 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 by National Geographic, ""Archaeology"" magazine, 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, Guderjan's long-term research reveals what daily Maya life was like.