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In Maya Political Science: Time, Astronomy, and the Cosmos, Prudence M. Rice proposed a new model of Maya political organization in which geopolitical seats of power rotated according to a 256-year calendar cycle known as the May. This fundamental connection between timekeeping and Maya political organization sparked Rice’s interest in the origins of the two major calendars used by the ancient lowland Maya, one 260 days long, and the other having 365 days. In Maya Calendar Origins, she presents a provocative new thesis about the origins and development of the calendrical system. Integrating data from anthropology, archaeology, art history, astronomy, ethnohistory, myth, and linguistics, Rice argues that the Maya calendars developed about a millennium earlier than commonly thought, around 1200 BC, as an outgrowth of observations of the natural phenomena that scheduled the movements of late Archaic hunter-gatherer-collectors throughout what became Mesoamerica. She asserts that an understanding of the cycles of weather and celestial movements became the basis of power for early rulers, who could thereby claim “control” over supernatural cosmic forces. Rice shows how time became materialized—transformed into status objects such as monuments that encoded calendrical or temporal concerns—as well as politicized, becoming the foundation for societal order, political legitimization, and wealth. Rice’s research also sheds new light on the origins of the Popol Vuh, which, Rice believes, encodes the history of the development of the Mesoamerican calendars. She also explores the connections between the Maya and early Olmec and Izapan cultures in the Isthmian region, who shared with the Maya the cosmovision and ideology incorporated into the calendrical systems.

Paleolimnological evidence indicates the ancient Maya transformed terrestrial ecosystems by felling forest vegetation to construct large civic-ceremonial centers and to expand agriculture. Human settlements influenced lacustrine environments but the effects of Maya activities on aquatic ecosystems remain poorly studied. Here we analyzed a sediment core from Lake Petén Itzá, Guatemala, to infer paleoenvironmental changes resulting from Maya occupation of the archaeological site of Nixtun-Ch’ich’. Increases in charcoal and fecal stanol concentrations indicate Maya occupation of the Candelaria Peninsula by the late Early Preclassic period. Geochemical proxies reveal a period of lake ecosystem alteration during construction and expansion of the city’s urban grid in the Middle and Late Preclassic periods. Depopulation of the city in the Terminal Preclassic resulted in a decline in lake trophic state. Whereas previous studies of Petén waterbodies have indicated depressed lacustrine primary production, the core collected near Nixtun-Ch’ich’ shows evidence of ancient Maya lake ecosystem deterioration.

Nixtun-Ch'ich', on the western edge of Lake Peten Itza in Peten, northern Guatemala, features an axis urbis and an urban grid dating to the Middle Preclassic period (800–500 b.c.). New research reveals that Middle Preclassic constructions—five circular or oval artificial pools and planned surface drainage—facilitated or impeded the movement of water. Large limestone rubble lines at least two of the pools (aguadas) in the city's core; two pools lie on the axis urbis, demonstrating that they were central ceremonial constructions. The gridded streets facilitated drainage: they consistently slope from west to east and from the center to north and south. In some areas seeing intense water flow, the streets divide into waterways and pedestrian-ways and/or were given special paving. Many scholars argue that water management contributed to the power of despotic kings, but no evidence of such rulers exists among the Middle Preclassic Maya. Nonetheless, we believe that such systems emerged in the Middle Preclassic. Nixtun-Ch'ich' appears to have been cooperative in its organization and its water management system was a public good.

I propose a “Milky Way / creation hypothesis” for the elongated eastern structures in early Maya E Groups: they were modeled on the Milky Way galaxy. These architectural arrangements, beginning in the Preclassic period (c. 900 B.C.–A.D. 200) in the southern Maya Lowlands, were adopted from predecessors in the Early Preclassic neighboring Gulf Coast region. The widespread overall similarity of E Groups suggests a shared belief system centered on myths about creation, and many of the characters (e.g., Maize God) and events of creation in Maya myths are set in the Milky Way. The general north–south axial orientation of the eastern platform, frequently pivoted northeast–southwest, is proposed to be related to the rainy season position of the Milky Way overhead. E Groups were probably multifunctional ritual theaters, the eastern platforms serving as stages for nighttime performances of creation stories. Late modifications into a tripart edifice, with structures or superstructures in the center and at both ends, replicated the major asterisms of the visible galaxy and/or the creator gods.

Neighbors of the better-known Itza in the central Petén lakes region of Guatemala, the Kowoj Maya have been studied for little more than a decade. The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Geopolitics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala summarizes the results of recent research into this ethno-political group conducted by Prudence Rice, Don Rice, and their colleagues.   Chapters in The Kowoj address the question \"Who are the Kowoj?\" from varied viewpoints: archaeological, archival, linguistic, ethnographic, and bioarchaeological. Using data drawn primarily from the peninsular site of Zacpetén, the authors illuminate Kowoj history, ritual components of their self-expressed identity, and their archaeological identification. These data support the Kowoj claim of migration from Mayapán in Yucatán, where they were probably affiliated with the Xiw, in opposition to the Itza. These enmities extended into Petén, culminating in civil warfare by the time of final Spanish conquest in 1697.   The first volume to consider Postclassic Petén from broadly integrative anthropological, archaeological, and historical perspectives, The Kowoj is an important addition to the literature on late Maya culture and history in the southern lowlands. It will be of particular interest to archaeologists, historians, ethnohistorians, art historians, and epigraphers.

Little is known about Middle Preclassic/Formative lowland Maya belief systems or ideologies, compared to later periods, but with increasing research at Middle Preclassic sites and recognition of their nascent complexity, this topic merits investigation. Belief systems are investigated through perspectives on materialization (of ideological concepts); on order, legitimacy, and wealth; and on cooperation drawn from collective/corporate action theory and costly signaling (selectionist) theory. Early lowland belief systems are partially outgrowths of Archaic period hunter-gatherer, “tribal” lifeways, and some concepts about cosmology and supernatural forces may be pan-Mesoamerican and pan-New World (e.g., quadripartition; animacy of objects). The best-known early Mesoamerican belief system is that of the Early and Middle Formative Gulf Coast Olmecs and related peoples (especially in Oaxaca) beginning around 1700 BC or so. Middle Preclassic lowland Maya ideologies (considered primarily in terms of power relations) are examined and compared with those of the Olmecs in four material domains: site plans, landscapes, and architecture; sculpture; portable material culture; and iconography. Comparisons reveal significant differences between Maya and Olmec, visible in Olmec materializations of leaders’ power: massive sculptures and exotic goods (costly signaling). Early Maya ideology and concepts of order (including cooperation) and legitimacy (including corporate political strategies) were rooted in beliefs and myths about the creation of the world and its creatures (including humans), about cosmic renewal (especially solar movements), and about time.

Early occupation at Nixtun-Ch'ich’, on the western edge of Lake Petén Itzá, is dated by two ceramic complexes, K'as and Chich. These represent the Late and Terminal Early Preclassic or the early and late “Pre-Mamom” periods, respectively (ca. 1300–800 BC), including a “Transitional” period incorporating Nix Middle Preclassic (Mamom) pottery. Comparisons with complexes at other sites in the region permit the dating of 10 construction loci, including 3 in the civic-ceremonial core. Low late Pre-Mamom platforms were raised and expanded in Transitional and Early Middle Preclassic times, when they were elaborated into two E-Groups and a Triadic Structure on the central axis. This building activity is interpreted in terms of cooperative or corporate labor organization and related to evolutionary game theory. The ritual foundation of such organization is evident in the site's gridded layout based on a mythical world-creation crocodile. En este artículo se examinan dos complejos cerámicos tempranos, K'as y Chich, del sitio de Nixtun-Ch'ich’ en la ribera oeste del Lago Petén Itzá. Estos complejos representan los períodos Preclásico temprano tardío y terminal, es decir “Pre-Mamom” temprano y tardío, desde aproximadamente 1300 aC hasta 800 aC, incluyendo un período “Transicional” con cerámica del complejo Nix Preclásico medio (Mamom). La comparación de los engobes y formas de esta cerámica con los de otros sitios en la región, permitió establecer la cronología de diez construcciones en el sitio, incluyendo tres en el núcleo cívico-ceremonial. Las plataformas bajas construidas en el Pre-Mamom tardío fueron elevadas en los períodos Transicional y Preclásico medio, algunas elaboradas para crear dos “Grupo-E” y un complejo triádico en el núcleo monumental y sobre el eje central. Estas actividades de construcción se interpretan por medio de la teoría de juegos evolutivos (“evolutionary game theory”) o seleccionismo en términos de la organización laboral cooperativa o corporativa. La base ritual de esta organización es evidente en el diseño reticulado del sitio basado en una ideología de un cocodrilo mítico de la creación del mundo. Desafortunadamente, no sabemos nada del individuo o de los grupos que podrían haber planificado este diseño y programado la labor necesaria para realizarlo.