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Anth 168a/LALS100a:
The Maya – Past, Present, and Future
Fall 2014
Tue/Thu 3:30 PM–4:50
Charles Golden, cgolden@brandeis.edu,
781-736-2217, Office Hours: T/Th 2:30 – 3:30pm or by appointment.
Who are the Maya and what happened to them? Popular presentations of the Maya often focus on their
ancient cities, magnificent pyramids, palaces, and ballcourts, and the supposed “collapse” of their
civilization in the 9th century CE. Or, more recently, there has been a public fascination with the “END OF
THE WORLD” in 2012. The real picture is far more complex, spans more than three millennia, and
encompasses the modern story of more than 8 million people who speak the nearly 30 Mayan languages
of Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.
In this course we will investigate the earliest archaeological evidence for agricultural peoples that we
can securely identify as ancestors of modern Maya populations. We will explore the rise of the first
great Maya cities at places like El Mirador, the invention of the most complex writing system in the
Americas, and we will look at the rich archaeological and hieroglyphic data for understanding the lives of
kings and commoners in the first millennium AD. You will learn to read a bit of Maya hieroglyphic
inscriptions, we will question the various hypotheses for the famous “Maya Collapse,” and we will delve
into the aftermath of the supposed collapse. And yes, we will discuss the Mayan calendar(s) and deflate
the hyperbolic claims of the end of the world. Woven into our discussion of the Precolumbian past will
be the ethnographic accounts of anthropologists and the voices of the Maya themselves, speaking to us
through historical and modern texts.
This Course is Writing Intensive and a Mix of Lecture and Seminar
This course is a forum for discussion about the Maya. As such, proper preparation and engaged class
participation are required. Any more than two unexcused absences during the course of the semester
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will result in the loss of a letter grade for class participation for each additional absence. Readings
should be completed before class on the day for which they are assigned. Participation accounts for
20% of the final course grade.
1) Two 5 page essays will constitute the major midterm assignments. Each essay will be worth 10% of
the final grade. These papers will ask you develop an argument based on class readings, and providing
appropriate citations of those readings. You will receive the prompt for the first essay in class on 10/2
and must be submitted on Latte no later than the beginning of class on 10/13; and for the second essay
the prompt will be distributed on 10/30 and must be submitted on Latte by 11/11. Full use of course
readings should be made in answering the exam questions. Outside readings are welcome but will not
be required.
2) A final paper will be an-in depth study of an object from a museum in the Boston area (or elsewhere,
if you choose). Boston has a rich collection of objects from the Maya area displayed in museums such as
the MFA and Harvard’s Peabody Museum. Many of these objects, however, are presented with limited
cultural context and, particularly in the case of art museums, without any real indication of where the
piece was originally found. You are to visit one of these collections over the course of the semester,
select an object and write a richly anthropological analysis of that piece. A 3-page proposal with
preliminary bibliography is due on 11/4 (10% of the final grade). A complete draft (10-12 pages) of the
paper is due11/25 (10% of your final grade). You will present a summary of your findings in class during
the final sessions of the semester (10% of the final grade). You will receive comments on this draft and
are expected to make revisions to the paper following these comments and discussion with me. A final
draft of the paper is due on 12/11 (30% of the final grade).
SOME RESOURCES FOR WRITING IN ANTHROPOLOGY AND ARCHAEOLOGY:
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/anthropology/
http://www.bu.edu/archaeology/undergraduate/writing-guide-in-archaeology/
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~anthro/undergrad_materials/anthropology_writing_guide_2010.pdf
http://www.skidmore.edu/anthropology/writing/paper.php
GRADING
A grade of “A” means “excellent” - the work is of superior quality on an exam and represents insightful,
well-considered, and well-written/produced research & write-up. A grade of “A” typically represents a
great deal of effort, but effort alone does not guarantee an “A.” A grade of “B” means “good” - the work
fulfills all of the assignment instructions and adequately presents well-written, well-researched work.
“C” means “average” - the work submitted fulfills the letter of the assignment, but lacks sufficient quality
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of research and/or presentation that would warrant a higher grade. A grade of “D” represents work that
is unsatisfactory and has not fulfilled the stated goals of the assignment, while an “E” is a failing grade
resulting from work that is incomplete, incoherent, or otherwise unacceptable given the guidelines for
the assignment.
Extensions on papers will only be given if your professor is notified ahead of time of an existing conflict,
or you provide proof of an emergency. No extensions or make-ups will be given because of conflicts with
assignments or exams in other classes. Papers turned in late without permission of the instructor will be
discounted one letter grade per day.
If you are a student who needs academic accommodations because of a documented disability you
should contact me, and present your letter of accommodation, as soon as possible. If you have questions
about documenting a disability or requesting academic accommodations you should contact
Undergraduate Academic Services. Letters of accommodations should be presented at the start of the
semester to ensure provision of accommodations. Accommodations cannot be granted retroactively.
The Brandeis Writing Center (extension 6-4885) on the first floor of the Goldfarb Library is available for
consultation throughout the academic year.
The following texts are required readings and should be purchased, or checked out from the library
(copies will be on reserve; an online version of Popul Vuh is also available at:
http://www.mesoweb.com/publications/Christenson/PopolVuh.pdf)
Matthew Restall “Maya Conquistador” 1998, Beacon Press ISBN: 0807055077
Stephen Houston and
Takeshi Inomata
“The Classic Maya” 2009, Cambridge University Press ISBN: 9780521669726
Allen J. Christenson “Popul Vuh” 2007, Univ. of Oklahoma Press ISBN: 0806138394
Other assigned readings will be made available via LATTE.
This calendar represents a preliminary schedule of readings and discussions. All assignments and
readings are subject to change during the course of the semester. Students will receive written
notification of these changes via e-mail.
Th 8/28 Intro Class: Who, When, and Where are the Maya?
T 9/2 The Origins of Maya Culture and Society: The Preclassic
Restall, M. 2004. Maya Ethnogenesis. The Journal of Latin American Anthropology 9:64-89.
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Houston and Inomata, Chapter 3, “Beginnings,” pp. 65-104.
Joyce, Rosemary A., and John S. Henderson (2001) Beginnings of Village Life in Eastern Mesoamerica.
Latin American Antiquity 12 (1): 5-23.
Th 9/4 The Origins of Maya Culture and Society: The Preclassic
Christenson, Popul Vuh, pp.59-191
T 9/9 The Origins of Maya Culture and Society: The Preclassic
Estrada-Belli, Francisco (2011) The First Maya Civilization, Chapter 5, “Earth-Mountain-Caves and Sky-
Serpent-Birds,” pp. 84-116. Routledge, New York.
Saturno, William A. 2009. Centering the Kingdom, Centering the King: Maya Creatuin and Legitimization
at San Bartolo, in The Art of Urbanism: How Mesoamerican Kingdoms Represented Themselves in
Architecture and Imagery, edited by William L. Fash and Leonardo Lopez Lujan, pp. 111-134. Dumbarton
Oaks, Washington, DC.
Th 9/11 The Classic Period: Overview
Houston and Inomata, Chapter 4, “The Classic Period,” pp. 105-127.
Martin, S., and N. Grube. 2008. Introduction to Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. New York:
Thames and Hudson.
Martin, S., and N. Grube. 1995. Maya Superstates. Archaeology 48:41-46.
T 9/16 Video: Breaking the Maya Code
Th 9/18 The Classic Period: Understanding Maya Inscriptions
Saturno, William et al. 2006. Early Maya Writing at San Bartolo, Guatemala.
Science 3 March 2006: 1281-1283.
Proskouriakoff, T. 1960. Historical Implications of a Patten of Dates at Piedras Negras, Guatemala.
American Antiquity 25:454-475.
Coe, M. D., and M. Van Stone. 2001. Chapters 1 and 2 from Reading the Maya Glyphs. New York:
Thames and Hudson.
T 9/23 The Classic Period: The Political Landscape – the Organization of the Maya Polity
Houston and Inomata, Chapter 5, “Kings and Queens, Courts and Palaces,” 131-162.
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Houston and Inomata, Chapter 9, “Craftspeople and Traders,” pp. 250-287.
Inomata, T. 2001. The Power and Ideology of Artistic Creation: Elite Craft Specialists in Classic Maya
Society. Current Anthropology 42:321-349.
Th 9/25 NO CLASS
T 9/30 The Classic Period: Understanding the Imagery
Houston, S. D. 2000. Into the Minds of the Ancients: Advances in Maya Glyph Studies. Journal of World
Prehistory 14:121-201.
Houston, S., and D. Stuart. 1996. Of gods, glyphs and kings: divinity and rulership among the Classic
Maya. Antiquity 70:289-312.
Stuart, D. 1996. Kings of Stone: A Consideration of Stelae in Classic Maya Ritual and Representation. RES
29/30:148-171.
Th 10/2 The Classic Period: Understanding the Imagery
Houston and Inomata, Chapter 7, “Gods, Supernaturals, and Ancestors,” pp. 193-217.
Brown, L. A. and K. Th. Emery. 2008. Negotiations with the Animate Forest: Hunting Shrines in the
Guatemalan Highlands. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 15(4): 300-337.
Pitarch, Pedro ( 2010 ) Chapters 1 and 2, The Jaguar and the Priest: An Ethnography of Maya Souls.
University of Texas Press, Austin.
T 10/7 The Classic Period: Understanding the Imagery
Houston and Inomata, Chapter 6, “Nobles,” pp.163-192.
Iannone, Gyles (2005) The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Maya Petty Royal Court. Latin American Antiquity.
16: 26-44. 2005
Golden, C., A. Scherer, A. R. Muñoz, and R. Vasquez. 2008. Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan: Divergent
Political Trajectories in Adjacent Maya Polities. Latin American Antiquity 19:249-274.
Th 10/9 NO CLASS
M10/13 Working through Texts
Houston, S. D., K. A. Taube, and D. Stuart. 1989. Folk classification of Classic Maya pottery. American
Anthropologist 91:720-726.
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T 10/14 Working through Texts (Calendar and what will or will not happen in 2012)
Stuart, D. 2012. Notes on a New Text from La Corona.
http://decipherment.wordpress.com/2012/06/30/notes-on-a-new-text-from-la-corona/
Stuart, D. 2011. More on Tortuguero’s Monument 6 and the Prophecy that Wasn’t.
http://decipherment.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/more-on-tortugueros-monument-6-and-the-
prophecy-that-wasnt/
Houston, S. 2008. What Will Not Happen in 2012.
http://decipherment.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/what-will-not-happen-in-2012/
Th10/16 NO CLASS
T 10/21 The Classic Period: Contacts with The Highlands and the Rest of Mesoamerica
Stuart, D. 2004. "The Beginnings of the Copan Dynasty: A Review of the Hieroglyphic and Historical
Evidence," in Understanding Early Classic Copan. Edited by E. E. Bell, M. A. Canuto, and R. J. Sharer, pp.
215-248. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Sharer, R. J. 2004. "External Interaction at Early Classic Copan," in Understanding Early Classic Copan.
Edited by E. E. Bell, M. A. Canuto, and R. J. Sharer, pp. 297-318. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Taube, K. A. 2003. "Tetitla and the Maya Presence at Teotihuacan," in The Maya and Teotihuacan.
Edited by G. E. Braswell, pp. 273-314. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Th10/23 The Classic Period: Contacts with The Highlands and the Rest of Mesoamerica
Price, T. Douglas, et al. 2010. Kings and Commoners at Copan: Isotopic Evidence for Origins and
Movement in the Classic Maya Period. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29(1): 15-32.
Wright, Lori, et al. 2010. The Children of Kaminaljuyu: Isotopic Insight into Diet and Long Distance
Interaction in Mesoamerica. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29 (2010) 155–178
Wright, Lori E. 2005. In search of Yax Nuun Ayiin I: Revisiting the Tikal Project’s Burial 10. Ancient
Mesoamerica 16(1): 89-100.
T 10/28 The Classic Period: Communities and Social Organization
Houston and Inomata, Chapter 8, “Farmers,” pp. 218-249.
Cancian, Th. 1996. The Hamlet as Mediator. Ethnology 35(3): 215-228.
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Christenson, Popul Vuh, pp.192-195.
Th10/30 The Classic Period: Communities and Social Organization
Gillespie, S. D. 2000. Rethinking Ancient Maya Social Organization: Replacing 'Lineage' with 'House'.
American Anthropologist 102:467-284.
Hutson, S. R., A. Magnoni, and T. W. Stanton. 2004. House Rules? The Practice of Social Organization in
Classic-period Chunchucmil, Yucatan, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 15:75-92.
Houston, S. D., and P. A. McAnany. 2003. Bodies and Blood: Critiquing
Social Construction in Maya Archaeology. Journal of Anthropological
Archaeology 22:26-41.
T 11/4 Collapse: Causes and Debates
Aimers, J. and D. Hodell. 2012. Drought and the Maya. Nature 479: 44-45.
Yaeger, Jason, and David A. Hodell. 2008. The Collapse of Maya Civilization: Assessing the Interaction of
Culture, Climate and Environment. In El Niño, Catastrophism, and Culture Change in Ancient America
(Daniel H. Sandweiss & Jeffrey Quilter, eds.). Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
Cook, B. I., K. J. Anchukaitis, J. O. Kaplan, M. J. Puma, M. Kellley, and D. Gueyffier. 2012. Pre-Columbian
Deforestation as an Amplifier of Drought in Mesoamerica. Geophysical Research Letters 39: 1-6.
Golitko, M. J. Meierhoff, G. M. Feinman, and R. Williams. 2012. Complexities of collapse: the evidence
of Maya obsidian as revealed by social network graphical analysis Antiquity 86: 507–523
Th 11/6 Collapse: Causes and Debates
McNeil, C. 2011. Deforestation, Agroforestry, and Sustainable Land Management Practices among the
classic period Maya. Quaternary International 249 (2012) 19-30.
Turner, B. L. II and J. A. Sabloff. 2012. Classic Period collapse of the Central Maya Lowlands: Insights
about human–environment relationships for sustainability. PNAS.
www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1210106109
Golden, C. and Scherer. A. K., No Date.
T 11/11 The Postclassic – Aftermath, or new Beginning?
Andrews, Anthony P., E. Wyllys Andrews, and Fernando Robles Castellanos. 2003. The Northern Maya
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Collapse and its Aftermath. Ancient Mesoamerica, 14 (1):151 - 156.
Milbrath, Susan and Carlos Peraza Lope. 2003. Revisiting Mayapan: Mexico’s Last Maya Capital. Ancient
Mesoamerica 14: 1-46.
Braswell, Geoffrey. 2001. “Post-Classic Maya Courts of the Guatemalan Highlands” in Royal Courts of the
Ancient Maya, Volume 2: Data and Case Studies. Edited by T. Inomata and S. D. Houston, pp. 308-334.
Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
Th11/13 The Arrival of the Spanish and the Reorganization of Maya Society
Christenson, Popul Vuh, pp. 196-305 (Also, review previous sections of Popul Vuh)
T 11/18 The Arrival of the Spanish and the Reorganization of Maya Society
Bernal Diaz del Castillo “The Expedition under Cordova” and “The Expedition under Grijalva” 1996. The
Discovery and Conquest of Mexico. New York: Da Capo Press.
Restall, Maya Conquistador, Chapters 1 – 10
Th11/20 Modern Voices
Charles D. Thompson, Jr. “Arrival 1927: The Formation of Ethno-Boundaries” in Maya Identities and the
Violence of Place: Borders Bleed (pp. 64-76).
Victor Montejo. 2002. "The Multiplicity of Mayan Voices: Mayan Leadership and the Politics of Self-
Representation," in Indigenous Movements, Self-Representation, and the State in Latin America. Edited
by K. B. Warren and J. E. Jackson, pp. 123-148. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Demetrio Cojti Cuxil. 1996. "The Politics of Maya Revindication," in Maya Cultural Activism in
Guatemala. Edited by E. Th. Fischer and R. M. Brown, pp. 19-50. Austin: University of Texas Press.
T 11/25 STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Th11/27 THANKSGIVING NO CLASS
T 12/2 STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Th 12/4 STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Students are expected to follow community standards of behavior and of academic integrity detailed in
the Rights and Responsibilities Handbook.
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