The Architecture of Early Kingship

Comparative Perspectives on the Origins of the Maya Royal Court

Bibliographic Data

ID20067171
AuthorsJohn E Clark (0000-0002-3846-9926), Richard D Hansen (0000-0002-9903-3560)
Year2018
Pages1-45
Publication date2018-05-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueRoyal Courts of the Ancient Maya : Volume 2 (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4324/9780429497537-1
OpenAlexW2903605633
ISBN9780429497537
LanguageEN
Citations received32

This chapter examines one aspect of the early Maya royal court—its residential compounds—and compare them to earlier developments in the Olmec heartland, Chiapas, and Oaxaca. Courtly life, royal residence, and ritual architecture can be traced back even centuries earlier to San Lorenzo, but evidence of royal residences and compounds there is not yet fully published. The chapter addresses implications of the spatial and temporal patterns in the data concerning the ancient conduct of courtly life, its origins, and its promulgation throughout Mesoamerica. It argues that the Pre-Classic Maya adopted their royal institutions and court from western cultures. The chapter considers evidence from partially contemporaneous capitals in Mesoamerica, namely, La Venta, Chiapa de Corzo, Mirador, La Libertad, San Jose Mogote, Monte Alban and Nakbe, Tikal, and Uaxactun. It describes the limited evidence from all the early centers mentioned indicates that the adjacent acropolis was probably the location of a royal compound or precinct

Ancient history · Archaeology · Maya · Monarchy · Political science · Politics · Classics · History · Latin American history and culture · Law · Architecture