Continuing in the tradition of the Maya Archaeology series from Precolumbia Mesoweb Press, this volume offers chapters by leading authorities on discoveries and research in the field of Maya archaeology. Topics include a royal tomb at Palenque, an early Maya ceremonial center at Ceibal, a hieroglyphic stairway at El Palmar recording a pilgrimage to distant Copan, and breakthrough insights into Maya divinity. The volume is accompanied by a facsimile of an authentic Maya screenfold book, the Grolier Codex. 
 Chapters include: The Text and Context of the Cuychen Vase, Macal Valley, Belize, by Christophe Helmke, Jaime J. Awe, Shawn G. Morton, and Gyles Iannone....Ajpach' Waal: The Hieroglyphic Stairway of the Guzman Group of El Palmar, Campeche, Mexico, by Kenichiro Tsukamoto and Octavio Esparza....Middle Preclassic Caches from Ceibal, Guatemala, by Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan....The Funerary Complex of Temple XX: Offering and Ritual in the Early Classic Period of Palenque, by Arnoldo Gonzalez Cruz and Joshua Balcells....The Fourth Maya Codex, by Michael Coe, Mary Miller, Stephen Houston, and Karl Taube...Royal Death, Tombs, and Cosmic Landscapes: Early Classic Maya Tomb Murals from Rio Azul, Guatemala, by Mary Jane Acuña...The Old Man of the Maya Universe: A Unitary Dimension to Ancient Maya Religion, by Simon Martin.

Maya Archaeology 3: Featuring the Grolier Codex

Michael Coe

Kenichiro Tsukamoto

Mary Miller

Stephen Houston

Karl Taube

Takeshi Inomata

Daniela Triadan

Christophe Helmke

Jaime Awe

Shawn Morton

Gyles Iannone

Octavio Esparza

Arnoldo Gonzalez

Joshua Balcells

Mary Jane Acuña

Simon, Martin

Precolumbia Mesoweb Press

Discovered in 2015 during excavations of a rich Terminal Classic deposit at the site of Baking Pot, Belize, the Komkom Vase was instantly recognized as a unique and important find. For one thing, its dedicatory date of AD 812 indicates that it was made during a time when many Maya cities were in the throes of collapse. For another, it contains a remarkably long text. At some 202 glyphs blocks (not all of them preserved, to be sure), it is not only the longest Pre-Columbian text in Belize, but in the top ten longest Classic Period texts from the entire Maya area. Third, its lengthy historical narrative detailing a series of closely-spaced military engagements in the Eastern Peten and Central Belize in 799-800 echoes and amplifies a parallel account on the slightly earlier Naranjo Stela 12 (dedicated in AD 800), suggesting the tantalizing possibility that these not only relate parts of the same narrative but may well reproduce elements of a shared archetype, presumably historical annals in codical form that were produced and circulated at the Naranjo court during the eighth century and later. In additional support of this observation, the authors note that both the text's style (red-and-black paint on a cream background) and its dimensions (reconstructed by them as originally ~21.7cm tall, with most of its glyph blocks averaging about 4cm²) are strikingly parallel to the style and dimensions of surviving Maya codices. Until the unlikely event of an actual Classic Maya book coming to light, then, the Komkom Vase provides scholars with at least some idea of the format and contents of these long-lost codices. The authors are to be commended for producing such a detailed and insightful contribution within only a few short years of this important find, and all Mayanists will want a copy of this lavishly-illustrated monograph in their personal libraries.

A Reading of the Komkom Vase Discovered at Baking Pot, Belize

Julie A. Hoggarth

Jaime J. Awe

The impression given by painted pottery, murals, and carved monuments in the Maya area is of a highly scheduled existence, marked by periodic and prescribed acts and ritual obligations, especially among the rulers and elites of antiquity. This relationship was mapped out in the very structure of their ancient cities, with wide processional ways leading to soaring pyramidal structures and temples that served as stages for the politico-religious rituals that sustained regal power over the masses gathered there in the grand plazas below. Given this, it is understandable that both professional archaeologists and laypersons alike are drawn to the many civic-ceremonial centers that dot the Mesoamerican landscape. But there is a world beneath this world. Below our feet, below the jungle floor, lies a hidden realm of caverns and caves, spectacular columned galleries stretching beyond the limits of even the most powerful headlamps, rushing rivers in steep-walled canyons, and crystal-clear lakes, eerily still in the murky and musty darkness. It is to these locations that the ancient Maya, both elite and non-elite, went to commune with deities and ancestors, to conduct funerary rituals, to make sacrifice and petition for rain, health, and prosperity. It is also to these locations that a few hardy archaeologists have ventured, seeking evidence of these ancient activities and to understand their meaning and significance. In this volume, we explore a small portion of the ancient Maya world that has been particularly influential in shaping our knowledge of these subterranean realms: the Macal River Valley of Belize.

The Realm Below: Speleoarchaeological Investigations in the Macal River Valley, Belize

Dorie Reents-Budet

Ronald Bishop

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Books by Christophe Helmke