Chapter 2 Study Questions

1) What changes in Mesoamerican society is Clark interested in explaining?

2) What are "aggrandizers" and what role do they play in Clark's model?

3) What is his proposal for what had to happen to make the changes possible?

4) How does Clark use the data from Paso de la Amada and San Jose Mogote to argue for the role of public space in the emergence and consolidation of hereditary inequality and the formation of communities?

Chapter 3 Study Questions

1) Why do archaeologists need to consider both structure and agency when trying to understand social change in the Formative Period?

2) What is the difference between identifying the Olmec as a mother culture or a sister culture?

3) What are the different meanings of the term Olmec that Lesure discusses? Which meaning does he prefer and why?

4) What are the main elements of the Olmec style?

5) What are the social contexts of Olmec imagery? Think especially about how objects were used, the role of long-distance connections, and the relationship with social status.

1) How widespread was Teotihuacan's influence in Mesoamerica?

2) In what ways was Teotihuacan a planned city? What does this planning tell us about state control and political leadership? (See Chapter 5 as well.)

3) According to Sugiyama, Teotihuacan was like other Mesoamerican polities in having a tradition of powerful individual rulers. What is his evidence for this interpretation and how does his view differ from other models of Teotihuacan govenance, particularly those discussed in Chapter 5?

4) How does Sugiyama use the construction sequence and burials in the Moon Pyramid and Temple of the Feathered Serpent? How does this information allow him to create a model of state ideology and the political role of religious beliefs?

1) In what ways was Teotihuacan a planned city? What does this planning tell us about state control and political leadership? (See Chapter 4 as well.)

2) What are the two models of social stratification in Teotihuacan society discussed by Manzanilla? Which model does she endorse?

3) What is social identity? Why does Manzanilla argue that we need to study social identity at two spatial scales and what are those scales?

4) What are the important physical and social features of apartment compounds and wards (or barrios)?

5) What are the important differences in layout, behavior, organization, and material culture among the apartment compounds that Manzanilla discusses in detail? What kinds of differences does she find within individual compounds?

1) Robin argues that we need to look at Maya art, texts (representations), and their living spaces in order to understand ancient Maya social life. Why?

2) What have an understanding of Maya hieroglyphic writing, household archaeology, and feminist archaeology contributed to our understanding of Maya social life?

3) What can we learn from looking at figurines that we can't learn from looking at large scale monumental art?

4) What are the main differences among the communities of Calakmul, Copan, and Chan Noohol that Robin describes? What factors explain these differences?

5) What overall picture of Maya social life emerges from Robin's analysis of Calakmul, Copan, and Chan Noohol?

1) How have archaeologists defined "landscape" and why is this a useful concept for understanding Maya society? What is the difference between human settlement and landscape?

2) In what ways did the Maya make use of and modify their natural environment to create an economically useful landscape capable of supporting large populations?

3) What can we learn about Maya political organization and history through the study of settlement and landscape?

4) How does the landscape created by the Maya reflect religious beliefs and ideas about the relationship between people and the world in which they live?

1) What kinds of written or documentary sources are available to us and what can we learn from them about Mesoamerican society? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these different kinds of sources?

2) What major changes in settlement and society mark the Terminal Classic period in the Maya area?

3) What are the important characteristics of the pan-regional elite identity that develops in the Terminal Classic to Postclassic period?

4) What can we learn about Maya women through a critical reading of Landa's account?