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SCRIBES, WARRIORS, AND KINGS
The City of Copán and the Ancient Maya William L. Fash
"Superb. . . . Fash is ideally suited to the task . . . handsomely produced . . . outstanding."
For this revised edition, Professor Fash shows how recent discoveries in the Acropolis, urban wards, and rural redoubts of the Copán kingdom reveal fascinating insights into the life and times of royalty, nobles, and commoners in this distinguished Maya city. The uncovering of the extraordinary tomb of the dynasty's founder provides illuminating information on his origins and accomplishments, while archaeological and hieroglyphic studies have demonstrated the importance of Tikal and the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the founding and long-term legitimization of the Copán royal line. New excavations in the royal residential area give a blueprint for the layout and functioning of Maya palaces, as well as dramatic evidence for the violent and sudden end to dynastic rule. William Fash is Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University. Since 1978 he and his wife Barbara have participated in a series of multidisciplinary research projects at Copán. He was awarded the Order of José Cecilio del Valle by the Government of Honduras in 1994 for his contributions to Maya archaeology. "Selected field methods and data are summarized in interesting narrative style to help the reader understand how the work is done and how the interpretations are derived. . . . Highly recommended." —Choice ISBN 0-500-28282-X · 7 3/8" x 10 3/4" · 120 illustrations, 11 in color, 192 pages · ARCHAEOLOGY |
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Copán in modern Honduras was one of the great cities of the Classic
Maya. Abandoned to the rain forest for nearly a thousand years, it was
rediscovered in the early 1800s. Now, two centuries later, an international
team of scholars is solving the puzzle of Copán and the ancient Maya.
William Fash, himself one of the key contributors to the recent breakthroughs,
describes how decipherment of the Maya inscriptions together with tomb
finds have unlocked the secrets of Copán's history.'