(= A ANT 382) Maya Art and Archaeology

Catalog description

This course delves deeply into the cultures of indigenous Maya civilizations from 1000 B.C. into the early Colonial era. Maya peoples lived in a region defined by southern Mexico and Central America today. Maya studies embrace an interdisciplinary approach drawn from archeology, art history, hieroglyphic records, and ethnohistory. Pre-Columbian Maya social identity, modes of governance (and kingship), and political economies varied through space and time. This course follows serial achievements of Maya states, characterized by cycles of collapse and resurgence as well as long-term resilience and sustainability. The class will study kings, their retinues, and their foundations of power from ample works of art and hieroglyphic writing that have long captured public attention. It will also study the everyday life of commoners from the perspectives of household archaeology and ethnohistory. Commoners' diversified labor pursuits were the foundation of regional economies. The course emphasizes and celebrates the understanding of Maya world view and beliefs, shared across the social spectrum in the Pre-Columbian era, and important to indigenous descendant populations today. Course content includes case studies of key kingdoms as well as important topics such as landscape, religion, households, gender roles, economy, warfare, and ritual combat (the ballgame). Only one version may be taken for credit.