Marcello A. Canuto

Preliminary abstract: This brings together a group of scholars from North America, Latin America and Europe to open the ‘black box’ of Classic Maya polities (ca. AD 400-900). By moving away from the concept of polity — often thought to be a ubiquitous Maya political unit — this workshop aims to better understand the behaviors responsible for the creation and operation of these many distinct ancient political communities. Through case-studies spanning the Classic Maya world, these scholars explore the spatial and material administration of polities, the roles and offices its members had, and how they were maintained. Put differently, this workshop is less about how the Classic Maya sought to legitimate their authority within polities and more about how they exercised authority to establish, articulate, and integrate multiple classes and identities into their political entities. The Classic Maya world comprised many people, languages, and types of settlements; as such, this workshop seeks to provide a timely analytical framework which not only allows for many political realities, but rather that explains socio-political convergence and divergences. This workshop is composed of a group of international scholars each bringing distinct disciplinary perspectives in order to develop innovative explanations for how ancient complex societies functioned politically.