Classic Maya political organization : epigraphic evidence of hierarchical organization in the southern Maya Mountains region of Belize
This project investigates the nature of Classic Maya (A.D. 300-900) political organization from the hieroglyphic inscriptions of sites located in the Southern Maya Mountains Region of Belize, Central America. Using recent models of political integration as suggested by Grube and Martin (1994, 1995, 1998a, 1998b, 1998c), as well as by Rice (2004), this study has sought to understand and define the basic political principles that operated during the Classic Period. By combining the methods of epigraphy, archaeology, and a direct historical approach to the hieroglyphic inscriptions of this region, this process has not only allowed for the reconstruction of the dynastic history of sites in the region, but afforded a greater conception of the political affiliations and hierarchies that existed among sites in this poorly understood region of the southern Maya Lowlands. The data presented here are restricted to the four major emblem-glyph-bearing sites in the region that recorded hieroglyphic texts: Lubaantún, Nim Li Punit, Pusilhá, and Uxbenká
Thesis, Dissertation, English, 2009
[Southern Illinois University Carbondale], [Carbondale, Ill.], 2009