Annales History and the Ancient Maya State: Some Observations on the "Dynamic Model"

Abstract

Joyce Marcus has recently proposed a "dynamic model" for the ancient Maya state. In doing so she has emphasized the importance of spatiotemporal fluctuations between centralization and decentralization. Although this idea has obtained wide‐ranging support, there has been little consideration of why these oscillations occurred. This article proposes that one of the key factors was the fundamental tension between the institutions of kinship and kingship. Viewed through the lens of Annales, or "French Structural" history, this appears to constitute a classic example of the contradictions between a long‐term structure (kinship) and medium‐term (longship) cycle. [Key words: Maya, sociopolitics, integration, cycling, Annales]

New World States and Empires: Economic and Social Organization

“…Archaeologists riding the "heterarchy" bandwagon, however (Ehrenreich et al, 1995), seem to think that heterogeneity is a substitute for inequality, allowing them to abandon class analysis. In our opinion, use of the concept of "heterarchy" by Mayanists (e.g., Iannone, 2002;Levi, 2002;Scarborough et al, 2003) has not notably improved our understanding of Classic Maya social organization.…”

Movement as a means of social (re)production: using GIS to measure social integration across urban landscapes

“…While scholars generally agree that the royal family and other elite governed a society comprising priests, scribes, artisans, farmers, merchants, warriors, servants, and slaves (e.g. Houston and Inomata, 2009;Inomata and Houston, 2001;Rice, 2004;Coe and van Stone, 2005;Kintz, 1983;Martin and Grube, 2008;Viel, 1999), debates ensue on whether Maya society was two-tier (elite/commoner) vs. three-tier (emerging middle-class) (Chase and Chase, 1992), segmentary or centralized (Fox et al, 1996;Iannone, 2002;Sanders and Webster, 1988), and hierarchical or heterarchical (Gillespie, 2000;Joyce and Gillespie, 2000;Potter and King, 1995;Watanabe, 2004). While regional and temporal variation catalyze these debates, archaeologists have had some success correlating architecture to social organization.…”

What Maya Collapse? Terminal Classic Variation in the Maya Lowlands

“…Chase 2006;Lucero 1999;Masson and Freidel 2002;Sharer and Golden 2004). At this point, however, there is still disagreement about the political organization of the ancient Maya (see, e.g., Fox et al 1996;Iannone 2002). Decentralized models such as peer polity (Freidel 1983(Freidel , 1986aSabloff 1986), ''cluster interaction'' (Price 1977), and segmentary state (Demarest 1992(Demarest , 1996aDunham 1990;Southall 1988) portray the Classic Maya as weakly integrated politically and vulnerable in the face of a wide range of social and environmental challenges.…”