PART V: CONCLUSIONS
Chapter 18:
Summarizing Environmental Research at Motul de San Jose
By Kitty F. Emery
Abstract: This review of the Motul de San Jose Ecology Sub-Project research presents an overview of environmental research that has been conducted at the Motul sites. At the foundation of ecological investigation in this ancient polity is an application of interdisciplinary environmental archaeology to issues of ownership and control of natural resources in Classic Maya households and communities. The Ecology Sub-Project has combined zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, and geoarchaeology to reconstruct the flow of natural resources into ancient Motul de San Jose, the distribution of those resources among community members, and their specific use at the household level.
Chapter 19:
Toward a Better Understanding of Classic Maya Political Organization
By Antonia E. Foias
Abstract: This chapter explores the new trends in political anthropology and archaeology to provide a better integrated synthesis of what we know and what we don’t know (but need to know) about Maya political power and political institutions during the Late Classic period. Shifting attention from general principles and general description, the chapter aims to provide a more detailed and more nuanced perspective on political institutions at different scales, but still maintaining a comparative perspective. Recent research has underlined that political power is not a static quantity, but it is much more fluid, and contigent on situations, contexts and the actors involved. Thus, it is not enough to identify who had power and who did not, but rather how this power was used and in what contexts and under what conditions.
Chapter 20:
The Motul de San José Archaeological Project in Context: The View from Belize
By Elizabeth Graham
Bibliography
Index