The Ancient Maya, 6th Edition

"The Ancient Maya is the definitive statement for our current understanding of their time and place. It goes well beyond any other competing volume in its encompassing reach."—Journal of Anthropological Research
“(T)he most comprehensive and most lavishly illustrated book on its subject.”—Journal of Latin American Studies

"Comprehensive synthesis of ancient Maya scholarship. Extensive summary of the archaeology of the Maya world provides the historical context for a detailed topical synthesis of chronological and geographic variability within the Maya cultural tradition"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

This book traces the evolution of Maya civilization through the Pre-Columbian era, a span of some 2,500 years from the origins of complex society within Mesoamerica to the end of the Pre-Columbian world with the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century. The sixth edition presents new archaeological evidence and historical studies and offers the most extensive revisions of this classic work to date. The result is the most thorough and incisive study of the origins and development of ancient Maya civilization ever published.

Robert J. Sharer is Shoemaker Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, and Curator of the American Section at the university's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He is the author of Quirigua: A Classic Maya Center and Its Sculpture and Everyday Life in Maya Civilization, as well as two previous editions of The Ancient Maya. Loa P. Traxler is a Research Scientist in the American Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.