Maya Kings Lost Chronicles Ancient Pyramids Temples Tomb Religion Astronomy Math

Description: The Lost Chronicles of The Maya Kings by David Drew. NOTE: We have 75,000 books in our library, almost 10,000 different titles. Odds are we have other copies of this same title in varying conditions, some less expensive, some better condition. We might also have different editions as well (some paperback, some hardcover, oftentimes international editions). If you don’t see what you want, please contact us and ask. We’re happy to send you a summary of the differing conditions and prices we may have for the same title. DESCRIPTION: Hardcover with dustjacket: 461 pages. Publisher: University of California Press; (2000). Size: 9½ x 6¾ x 2 inches, 2¼ pounds. Over the last two centuries explorers have made the most remarkable discoveries in the tropical forests of Central America. Across much of present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras, dozens of cities--some with populations of well over 100,000 have been unveiled. Every year fresh reports emerge of the findings of unknown Maya ruins; great temples, palaces, towering stone pyramids, and the tombs of the Maya kings. What these spectacular discoveries indicate is the former presence of an exceptionally advanced, sophisticated, and complex society. Recent major developments in the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphics have revealed that alongside the material achievements of the Maya ran intellectual accomplishments in astronomy, math, and calendrics. Seemingly tied to the complexities of Maya religion, these achievements were remarkable for a society technically in the Stone Age. The Chronicles of the Maya Kings are the histories recorded on the reliefs of temple walls, on magnificent hieroglyphic stairways, and on stone stelae planted by Maya rulers in the plazas of their cities. In this fascinating book, David Drew brings to life this extraordinary civilization. He answers questions about why the Mayas constructed their cities in the hostile setting of the jungle, the exact age of their ruins, and the strange human images depicted in elaborate costume at so many Maya sites. He asks why all knowledge of the Mayas was lost at the time of the Spanish conquest. He looks at their history, art, architecture, political systems, religion, and, finding that the Maya are not in fact a lost or dead people, there are five million descendants living in Mexico, considers the ways in which their society today illuminates that of their ancestors. CONDITION: LIKE NEW. Unread hardcover w/dustjacket. University of California (2000) 461 pages. New in the sense that the book is clearly unread. From the inside the book is pristine; pages are clean, crisp, unmarked, unmutilated, tightly bound, unambiguously unread. From the outside there's small tan-colored age spots, specks to the closed page edges, mostly the top surface of the closed page edges, some but much fainter to the fore surface of the closed page edges. The tiny tan age speckles are often referred to as "foxing" and visible only when book is closed, not to individual pages, only to the mass of closed page edges, sometimes referred to as the "page block". The dustjacket evidences modest edge and corner shelfwear, principally in the form of mild rubbing to the dustjacket spine head and heel and top edge of the front side of the dustjacket and very faint rubbing to the top "tips" of the dustjacket (the upper open corners of the dustjacket, front and back). There's also a 1" closed, neatly mended edge tear to the edge of the front side of the dustjacket. The edge tear has been neatly mended from the reverse side of the dustjacket, you almost need to know where it is in advance to find it. Beneath the dustjacket the covers are clean and unblemished. Except for the "foxing", the sprinkling of faint tan-colored age spots to the surfaces of the closed page edges, the condition is otherwise entirely consistent with new stock from a bookstore environment wherein new books might show minor signs of shelfwear, consequence of simply being shelved and re-shelved. Satisfaction unconditionally guaranteed. In stock, ready to ship. No disappointments, no excuses. PROMPT SHIPPING! HEAVILY PADDED, DAMAGE-FREE PACKAGING! #1823e. PLEASE SEE IMAGES BELOW FOR SAMPLE PAGES FROM INSIDE OF BOOK. PLEASE SEE PUBLISHER, PROFESSIONAL, AND READER REVIEWS BELOW. PUBLISHER REVIEW: REVIEW: Since the end of the eighteenth century, explorers and archaeologists have made spectacular discoveries in the tropical forests of Central America, the home of the ancient Maya. Across much of present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras, dozens of their great cities have now been located, many still buried in remote parts of the jungle. Every year fresh reports emerge of the finding of previously unknown pyramids, temples and the tombs of kings. These discoveries offer renewed testimony to the special genius and sophisticated nature of Maya civilization, which reached the height of its glory at the time of the European Dark Ages. Among all the ancient peoples of the Americas, the intellectual achievements of the Maya were the most astonishing - in maths, astronomy and calendrics, and above all in their system of hieroglyphic writing. For a very long time their script could not be fully understood. But recently, major advances in decipherment have begun to shed a whole new light on the Maya world and those who ruled it. From temple walls and stone stelae planted in the plazas of their cities has come written history: the “Chronicles of the Maya Kings”. Drew draws on a wealth of sources, from the accounts of early explorers and archaeologists to the most recent research. Drew charts the course of Maya discovery and presents answers to many of the mysteries their civilization has posed: the nature of Maya religion, the extent of warfare and human sacrifice in their society, how they were able to support vast populations in the fragile forest environment and why, by the time of the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century, most of their great cities were already lost and forgotten in the jungle. He examines Maya political systems, their achievements in art and architecture and stresses that they are not a lost or dead people. Millions of Maya still live in the region today and, as David Drew shows in this fascinating book, their society illuminates that of their ancestors. 83 line drawings, 36 black-and-white photographs, 22 color photographs, 6 maps. David Drew is an archaeologist who has worked in Latin America for more than twenty years. He has also written and presented many television documentaries for BBC and A&E series such as “Chronicle”, “Timewatch”, and “Footsteps”. PROFESSIONAL REVIEWS: REVIEW: Much has been learned in recent years, through archaeological excavations and the decipherment of hieroglyphs, about the world of the ancient Maya peoples of Mesoamerica. But an important question continues to engage scholars: why did their powerful empire, extending from southern Mexico to Nicaragua, collapse so swiftly and completely, hundreds of years before the European arrival brought other New World empires to ruin? Popular-archaeology writer David Drew examines the existing evidence and the sometimes contentious scholarly literature in “The Lost Chronicles of the Maya Kings”, a well-crafted portrait of the Mayan world, in which religious orthodoxy, constant warfare, and political struggle held sway as leaders such as Smoking Frog, Shield Skull, and Flint Sky battled for supremacy. Drew shows that there were really two Mayan empires: an "international one" verging on the Toltec and Mexica lands to the north, and an isolationist, conservative one to the south. Both constructed impressive, crowded cities marked by monumental architecture and elaborate royal tombs. Both fell victim to overpopulation and environmental failure, as drought and the depletion of the soil combined to produce famine. With them came the abandonment of the great cities. "It must be a gauge of the catastrophe and the severity of damage to the environment that in the years to come no attempt was made to revive a single one of them," Drew writes. The Mayan civilization emerged anew after the collapse, if at a much less ambitious scale, only to fall again as European-introduced diseases killed half a million Mayas between 1520 and 1547. Drew's account of the Mayan Empire's rise and fall is among the best general-interest books on this enigmatic era of New World history. REVIEW: Not since the work f J.E.S. Thompson, who died a quarter of a century ago, has a writer been so successful in weaving the vast scholarly studies of the ancient Maya into a coherent and readable account. This fascinating book shines well-focused light on what is known about the Mayas and their stunning achievements. Drew presents an excellent account of how Mayanists have labored to construct both a chronology of Mayan rulers and a history of their accomplishments. “The Lost Chronicles of the Maya Kings” can be appreciated by all those who are curious about ancient civilizations. It is a valuable resource for archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, and art historians. The book is very readable, requires little previous knowledge, and has numerous line drawings and color and black-and-white photographs. REVIEW: A fascinating history of the Maya, drawing on a wealth of recent archaeological discoveries, whose civilization in the jungles of Central America was for almost a thousand years hidden from the world. Since the beginning of the 19th century explorers in Central America have discovered dozens of sophisticated cities and ruins all founded by the Mayas. The author examines their legacy and the advanced civilization in which they lived during the Stone Age. Drew documents the warring nature of city-state dynasts, religious bloodletting rituals, and human sacrifices. READER REVIEWS: REVIEW: So good I actually packed this big book in my suitcase! It's the size and weight of a textbook. But I couldn't stop reading it, and finally gave up and packed it in my suitcase. I read the first 3 chapters, and then had to do a time-jump to a later period to catch up with where we would be visiting in Mexico. And once I loaned it to my son, at Chichen Itza, I didn't see it again, because he was so caught up reading it. It's that informative and, yes, readable. On the book flap, it says the author "brings to life this extraordinary civilization". Well he really does! I also appreciated the ending. REVIEW: This is an excellent book about the Maya. It brings you right up to date with current knowledge and thinking. It balances archaeological knowledge with the deciphering by epigraphers of Mayan hieroglyphs. I have traveled widely in this area, visited most of the major sites and read many books on the area. I can say this is the best and most thorough book I have read on the Maya. I love the way the author draws together the different sources and melds them together into this fascinating and scholarly work, and at the same time it is highly readable book. REVIEW: As a general reader with an interest in the Maya, I found that this book delivered. It was well written and not difficult. It didn't get bogged down in archaeological details, but it is thorough. Not merely thorough about the so called "Lost Chronicles", but a total survey of our knowledge of the Maya, from their "discovery", the serpentine journey to understanding them, and what is known from their origin through to recent times. But he is clear to point out that in Classical times we are restricted often to the lives of rulers, and often only of a few cites that have lots of inscriptions and are well studied. He even agrees that it is time to return the study of Mayan culture to the Mayan descendants. One still gets a sense of sketchiness in the presentation, which only reveals that even with all that has been recently acquired is still not very much. Contains maps, many black-and-white illustrations and color plates. REVIEW: I went to Meso-America last November and visited Tikal, Chichen-Itza and Tulum. I came back wanting to know more about the Maya and bought this book. David Drew is very clear and presents a complex subject very well. From the best known archaeological sites to the ones off the beaten track, he explains how they fit and their importance in Maya history. Also very interesting are the chapters on "breaking the code" of Maya hieroglyphs, the calendrics and numbers, as well as the influence of the Spanish conquistadores. After reading this book, I just want to go back to the region, see sites I didn't see before, as well as re-visiting places I went to with a new insight. REVIEW: This book is wonderful. It's a pretty well-detailed overview of Maya history, with a wonderful section dedicated to the study of Maya hieroglyphs, and of the "history of Maya history", that is the chronicles of explorers and scholars who dedicated their lives to the study of this amazing civilization. REVIEW: My compliments to the author. He did a good job with this book. Not since Michael Coe's "Breaking the Maya Code" have I found a book on the Maya so exciting to read and so easy to get through. David Drew doesn't bog you down in academic trivia. I found two things in this book that were particularly fascinating. First that the Maya were not a single pre-Columbian empire, as is so often portrayed, but rather a set of city-states involved in constantly shifting alliances with other political entities. It made the Maya seem that much more accessible and real as people. The second item I found fascinating was the fact that the Maya city of Tayasal survived into the period of the Spanish Conquest, while the bulk of the Maya world, and its once proud city-state, had collapsed several hundred years earlier. I am curious to read more about this particular city in a book by Grant Jones. I highly recommend this book to all those interested in the Maya. It is a good read and you don't need to be an expert on the Maya to enjoy it. REVIEW: This very good book is not just a history of what we know about the Maya. It summarizes the saga of how these ancient cities were discovered and how our knowledge of them was developed, especially during the last century. It also offers a very insightful review of what scholars have learned of the various Mayan cities, their rise and fall, and their relations with one another. The author also takes us through a brief review of the conquest and all that was lost and how the Maya have survived as a people under extremely difficult circumstances. And there are some very helpful pictures and illustrations. I am glad I own it, have read it, and am happy to recommend it to others as a one volume look at the broad scope of out understanding of this amazing culture. REVIEW: The title for this book is somewhat deceptive. You may think you are getting a translation of Maya Hieroglyphic history. But you are not. In fact, you are getting more than that. The author has produced an in-depth overview of Maya history from prehistoric times until its demise. It goes into detail on such cities as Tikal, Copan, Palanque, and Quirigua for example. What you will get is a conglomeration of all the research in these areas in relation to history, art, architecture, politics and religion where information has been found. This is a very informative book and recommended for an overview of the entire Maya civilization. It brings into context what caused the changes in Maya civilization (where we know it) and the limitations on the knowledge we currently have. I always ship books Media Mail in a padded mailer. This book is shipped FOR FREE via USPS INSURED media mail (“book rate”). All domestic shipments and most international shipments will include free USPS Delivery Confirmation (you might be able to update the status of your shipment on-line at the USPS Web Site and free insurance coverage). A small percentage of international shipments may require an additional fee for tracking and/or delivery confirmation. If you are concerned about a little wear and tear to the book in transit, I would suggest a boxed shipment - it is an extra $1.00. Whether via padded mailer or box, we will give discounts for multiple purchases. International orders are welcome, but shipping costs are substantially higher. Most international orders cost an additional $9.99 to $37.99 for an insured shipment in a heavily padded mailer, and typically includes some form of rudimentary tracking and/or delivery confirmation (though for some countries, this is only available at additional cost). There is also a discount program which can cut postage costs by 50% to 75% if you’re buying about half-a-dozen books or more (5 kilos+). Rates and available services vary a bit from country to country. You can email or message me for a shipping cost quote, but I assure you they are as reasonable as USPS rates allow, and if it turns out the rate is too high for your pocketbook, we will cancel the sale at your request. ADDITIONAL PURCHASES do receive a VERY LARGE discount, typically about $5 per book (for each additional book after the first) so as to reward you for the economies of combined shipping/insurance costs. Your purchase will ordinarily be shipped within 48 hours of payment. 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If upon receipt of the item you are disappointed for any reason whatever, I offer a no questions asked return policy. Send it back, I will give you a complete refund of the purchase price (less our original shipping costs). Most of the items I offer come from the collection of a family friend who was active in the field of Archaeology for over forty years. However many of the items also come from purchases I make in Eastern Europe, India, and from the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean/Near East) from various institutions and dealers. Though I have always had an interest in archaeology, my own academic background was in sociology and cultural anthropology. After my retirement however, I found myself drawn to archaeology as well. Aside from my own personal collection, I have made extensive and frequent additions of my own via purchases on Ebay (of course), as well as many purchases from both dealers and institutions throughout the world – but especially in the Near East and in Eastern Europe. I spend over half of my year out of the United States, and have spent much of my life either in India or Eastern Europe. In fact much of what we generate on Yahoo, Amazon and Ebay goes to support The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, as well as some other worthy institutions in Europe connected with Anthropology and Archaeology. I acquire some small but interesting collections overseas from time-to-time, and have as well some duplicate items within my own collection which I occasionally decide to part with. Though I have a collection of ancient coins numbering in the tens of thousands, my primary interest is in ancient jewelry. My wife also is an active participant in the "business" of antique and ancient jewelry, and is from Russia. I would be happy to provide you with a certificate/guarantee of authenticity for any item you purchase from me. There is a $2 fee for mailing under separate cover. Whenever I am overseas I have made arrangements for purchases to be shipped out via domestic mail. If I am in the field, you may have to wait for a week or two for a COA to arrive via international air mail. But you can be sure your purchase will arrive properly packaged and promptly - even if I am absent. And when I am in a remote field location with merely a notebook computer, at times I am not able to access my email for a day or two, so be patient, I will always respond to every email. Please see our "ADDITIONAL TERMS OF SALE."

Price: 30.99 USD

Location: Lummi Island, Washington

End Time: 2025-02-06T06:23:07.000Z

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