Ancient Maya Political Dynamics is a compelling reconstruction of Classic Period Maya politics. While the primary vantage point for discussion is the decade of excavations undertaken at the site of Motul de San Jose in Guatemala, Antonia Foias also provides comparisons with other archaeologically known polities and considers theoretical perspectives from areas within and outside of ancient Mesoamerica. Her outlook is particularly valuable in that she views politics from a variety of scales-micro, macro, and inter-mediate—thus providing balance to her interesting and in-depth discussion. She frames the volume within a reconstruction of Maya culture and history, using this framework as a backdrop for considerations of change in political organization over time. She further focuses on variability within these systems rather than on the establishment of centralized or decentralized units. Likewise, her discussion of political anthropology focuses on the dynamic, as opposed to static, nature of political systems. Comparative examples for the Motul de San Jose case study are drawn from both the Maya area and broader Mesoamerica as well as from the southeastern United States and Mesopotamia. Foias uses her multi-scaled framework to focus on the kinds of data that can be used in the reconstruction of political organization. Thus, the macro-scale discussion focuses predominantly on polity and interpolity organization, as informed by the study of settlement patterns, epigraphy, and ethnohistory. The intermediate-scale discussion focuses on the internal political dimension, as informed by Maya hieroglyphic texts and reconstructions of tribute, tax, and palace economies. The micro-scale discussion focuses on the politics of individuals, households, and subgroups within the community, especially as expressed on stone monuments and in artifact distributions. Her broader discussions include considerations not only of the political power held by the elite but also of the political power held by commoners—either because of their role in production or their participation in the political process itself. Foias concludes that Maya political organization exhibits very fine levels of variability, especially when all data elements, scales, and comparisons are taken into account.
Ancient Maya Political Dynamics fills a significant void in the literature that often is either site specific or pan-lowland in scope. By focusing on a limited period of time and by using Motul de San Jose as a base-while at the same time incorporating external comparisons-Foias is able to offer a more nuanced view of the Classic Period lowland Maya, one that emphasizes change and variation, the value of multiple lines of evidence, and the significance of multiple levels of stakeholders in the political process. In sum, this volume is a welcome addition to the Maya Studies series.