9 - Recent Advances in the Archaeology of Maya Warfare

Summary

It is now widely acknowledged that warfare played an important role in cultural developments throughout Maya history, including from its earliest origins. There is still much disagreement, however, over a number of fundamental aspects of Maya warfare, such as who participated in it, how it was conducted, the scale of conflicts and what the motivations were. This chapter provides a brief synthesis of current knowledge and controversies in the archaeology of ancient Maya warfare. First, a brief overview is provided of who the Maya are, the geographic region they have inhabited for over 3,000 years, the periods under study, and general patterns in how they conducted warfare. New findings produced by a diverse array of methods and specialists are then placed side by side and situated within their chronological and regional context. The focus here is on areas that have seen recent advances, in particular new archaeological evidence on the Preclassic period roots of Maya warfare, epigraphic advances showing the complexity of geopolitics during the Classic period in particular involving the Kaanul Snake kingdom, Postclassic mass burials and contact period war among Maya and between Maya and Spanish.