Copan: The History of an Ancient Maya Kingdom (School of American Research Advanced Seminar) - Softcover

E. Wylly's Andrews is Professor of Archaeology at Tulane University; William Fash is Bowditch Professor of Central American and Mexican Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University

This is a basic monograph for the study of that ancient Maya site, providing a remarkable historical perspective and a very useful tool for comparative purposes. - Fernando C Atasta Flores Esquivel in ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTEBOOKS LJUBLJANA The volume provides an excellent overview of this classic Maya kingdom, with lots of archaeology, new and reappraised. Particularly useful to non-Mesoamericanists... an introduction summarising past research (p. 8-32) and a concluding chapter by Wyllys Andrews & W. Fash, highlighting the main issues of Copan archaeology, including the opportunities for revision brought about by new obsidian hydration dating and the question of the (protracted) collapse of the kingdom in the ninth century AD, exposed in a complex model that includes demography, nutrition, stress on agrarian resources, social inequality and droughts in a rich mix of factors. ANTIQUITY This well-integrated volume presents a complex and nuanced view of elite life within Copan, as historical and humanistic as it is processual, highlighting not only what we do know about this ancient Maya kingdom, but also what we know we do not. This book will serve as a useful reference and should be required reading for graduate students interested in New World complex societies. - T. Kam Manahan in JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE