The Maya
Michael D. Coe and Stephen Houston
Coe and Houston update this classic account of the New World’s greatest ancient civilization, incorporating the most recent research in a fast-changing field. New discoveries of spectacular stucco sculptures at El Zotz and Holmul reveal surprising aspects of Maya royalty; the ‘Classic’ Maya themselves can be understood as occupants of royal courts, full of Machiavellian intrigue yet operating in close communion with gods and cosmos. Just-discovered texts at Xultun show a strong concern with astronomy and numerology, as well as evidence of lost books. Other finds include the discovery in an underwater cavern of the earliest known occupant of the region, the Hoyo Negro girl, and new evidence for the first architecture at Ceibal. The Maya highlights the vitality of current scholarship into this brilliant civilization.
Michael D. Coe (1929– 2019) was Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Yale University and Curator Emeritus for the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. His books include The Maya, Mexico and Breaking the Maya Code. Stephen D. Houston is Dupee Family Professor of Social Sciences at Brown University. His most recent book is The Gifted Passage: Young Men in Classic Maya Art and Text.