New Archaeology and the Ancient Maya

I agree with both previous reviews. Cannot really add anything other than it was completely enjoyable to read and certainly sheds new light on many aspects of how we have viewed and are now viewing the Maya and their spectacular civilzation...so nice toknow that the longer the culture existed the better off the lot of the common people.

I found this book very informative. It demonstrates how much archaeology and our knowledge of the Maya has changed since the Mayan ruins were first 'discovered' in the 19th century. The cultural biases of the early archaeoligts now explain many of the 'facts' put forward in early books on this subject. Acutally many of these 'facts' were just guesses, but because they were put forward by prominent people they were taken on face value. Much of the work, especially since the 1960's has disproved or changed out of recognition these early 'facts'.The last overview book on the Maya I read had them as peace loving people in lovely cities in the jungle, who just "gave it all up for no decent reason". This book completly changed my view on that. It made me realise on how slim a foundation many of the earlier works lay.I'd reccomend this book to anybody who wants to know how much archaeology has changed - and why what these people have discovered is not only in the past, but also has a bearing on us today..

There are many books written on the subject of the Maya civilization. What sets Jeremy Sabloff's book apart from the rest is how he approaches the subject. He refersto his book as a story, and provides his reader with a very concise overview of the Mayacivilization. The clarity of his text enhances the usefulness of the book, which in turnbroadens the audience from anthropology students to anyone interested in learningabout the Maya. Sabloff sets out his `story' to combine history, theory, methods and fieldwork and best describes the text in his own preface, an "attempt to explain how early archaeologists arrived at the `traditional model' of ancient Maya civilization that was popular in the first half of the century and how fieldwork has given birth to new discoveries of the Maya." (Sabloff, preface). The text is broken down into six chapters and in each chapter he uses subheadings to organize his interpretation of the information and to reveal an accurate knowledge of Maya studies. Using Maya archaeology as an extended study, Sabloff uses relevant sites during specific time periods as case studies to examine the area he wishes to describe to his reader. The first chapter is entitled `Growth of Modern Scientific Archaeology',almost beginning were the preface left on in terms of what Sabloff views as the `traditional model' of early Maya archaeology. This begins with the idea of what stream of questions the archaeologist should ask. In the `traditional model', Sabloff shows that the `what' and `where' questions of the past are no longer as relevant as the newly replaced `why' and `how' shift. It is in this chapter that Sabloff introduces the first of many different scholars to emphasize each section. Schiffer and Binford are discussed as well as one of their more popular methodological issues of the past, linked cultural activities. The next two chapters give the reader a contrast with the `traditional model' ofancient civilization and new views of the classic period. With these topics, Sabloff refers to the findings of Morley and Thompson in chapter two and Willey and Proskouriakoff in the following section. The way he introduces these scholars is one of respect. Sabloff does not bash the early ideas of archaeologists (knowing now that the information is not thorough), he describes their work prior to the archaeological revolution as successful and that many of their ideas were not wrong, just not developed enough. With regards to the later of the four scholars, Sabloff explains Proskouriakoff's remarkable findings from the Usumacinta River sites of Piedras and Yaxchilan and the breakthrough idea that Maya texts record history. What Sabloff seems to stress is that with each decade, the scholars and the information they have gathered help the next generation of archaeologists in their quest to better understand Maya civilization. Chapter four evaluates new views of the Pre-classic and P