Construction of Maya Space: Causeways, Walls, and Open Areas from Ancient to Modern Times

Book Synopsis: 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.

Contributors: Elias Alcocer Puerto, Alejandra Alonso Olvera, Traci Ardren, Jaime J. Awe, Alejandra Badillo Sánchez, Nicolas C. Barth, Grace Lloyd Bascopé, Adolpho Iván Batún-Alpuche, Elizabeth Beckner, M. Kathryn Brown, Bernadette Cap, Miguel Covarrubias Reyna, Juan Fernandez Diaz, Alberto G. Flores, Colin Thomas H. Guderjan, C. Colleen Hanratty, Héctor Hernández Álvarez, Scott R. Hutson, Joshua J. Kwoka, Whitney Lytle, Aline Magnoni, Jennifer P. Mathews, Stephanie J. Miller, Shawn G. Morton, Holley Moyes, Shannon Plank, Dominique Rissolo, Patrick Rohrer, Carmen Rojas Sandoval, Justine M. Shaw, J. Gregory Smith, Travis W. Stanton, Karl A. Taube, Daniel Vallejo-Cáliz