Ideological and Material Conditions Shaping the Nature of Warfare in Maya Society

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Warfare and the Origins of Political Control " session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Recent investigations have revealed substantial evidence of fortifications and physical conflicts in the Maya lowlands. Nonetheless, warfare in Maya society never led to the development of stable conquest states or empires. Factors affecting this process may have included the ideological and material conditions of this region. The ideology of political power, shaped through the historical processes of the region, focused more heavily on direct interaction and notions of mutual obligation between elites and subjects than institutionalized systems of bureaucracy. The environmental settings of the Maya lowlands limited the inhabitants’ ability to transport and store materials, particularly foodstuffs, in large quantities. Although such conditions do not determine the course of social change, they presented significant hurdles for the development of conquest states or empires.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Warfare and the Origins of Political Control   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35575.0