The ancient and enduring Maya

Maya history, ancient and modern, is well documented. It illustrates several critical issues for both historians and anthropologists.

The Maya emerge in the archaeological evidence from 3500 years ago. After 1000 years of village life, they built the grandest of all their pyramids; and, reflected in cycles of urban development for the next 1300 years, there followed spectacular royal projects of both peace and war. Yet little changed amongst the rural majority. Then, 1200 years ago — still one of the world’s biggest archaeological mysteries — the Maya way of life collapsed. It was recovering much of its vitality when the Spanish Conquistadores brought an even deeper challenge. The Maya survived that against all odds and today they maintain much of the ancient language, outlook and technology even as devout Christians. Yet, beset by the dilemmas of a stateless people, their prospects for the future are unclear.

The Mayas’ long history illustrates fundamental issues for understanding any tradition. Research on the Maya is lively and engrossing both in itself and as a source for comparison. We shall assess the state of the art by reviewing, first, the first two cycles of history before analysing Maya social structure and its economic basis. Then we turn to the Maya view of the world before finishing with an account of how the Maya coped with European imperialism and its aftermath.