As the gods kill : morality and social violence among the precolonial Maya /
"This is a survey of the evidence for violence--especially that of war and sacrifice--among the precolonial Maya. Scherer wants to situate violence within its social context, focusing especially on the moral frameworks in which the injury and killing were conducted. He is asking questions like,...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Austin :
University of Texas Press,
[2025]
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Series: | The Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | "This is a survey of the evidence for violence--especially that of war and sacrifice--among the precolonial Maya. Scherer wants to situate violence within its social context, focusing especially on the moral frameworks in which the injury and killing were conducted. He is asking questions like, why did the Maya see some modes of violence as necessary, particularly when it involved a relationship (to other Maya, to their ancestors, or the gods)? How do Maya concepts of justice, vengeance, payment, and costumbre (ritual) inform so-called "moral" violence? In the latter portion of the book (chapter four, especially), Scherer situates his analysis within broader social scientific studies, particularly as it pertains to the question of whether humans are inclined to intentional violence. To explore these questions, Scherer, who was trained as a bioarchaeologist, expands his methodology to review the material evidence for weapons, armor, and fortifications (as well as bones), and iconography, epigraphy, and ethnography, to produces a work of ethnohistory that draws from art history as well as archaeology"-- Provided by publisher. |
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| Physical Description: | xiv, 264 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-259) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781477331941 1477331948 |