The economy of the ancient Maya is still one of the least well-understood aspects of their civilization, in spite of more than a century of research that has only intensified. As we continue to uncover new ways in which they were more complex, contrasting views emerge. The causes for these differing views include an absence of texts relative, for example, to Mesopotamian civilization and a lack of material evidence for trade in perishable bulk goods. We rely on data such as rare illustrations of tribute or gifts of cotton, cacao, and bird feathers on painted vessels or on the Chik Nab mural at Calakmul, in which we see those items in a market. From household and palace excavations, we have plenty of evidence of discarded stone tools, ceramics, and shell and jade jewelry. We also have colonial period accounts of the tribute paid by communities to local and foreign (Aztec) lords. However, we can only hypothesize that the prehispanic Maya in those same regions produced similar items for trade and tribute. As a result, until now we have seriously underestimated the complexity of the ancient Maya economy and its role in sociopolitical change as compared to the economies of other ancient civilizations and of contemporary states of Central Mexico.

This book seeks to remedy this by presenting current theories and case studies in 27 chapters organized into five parts. In Part I, David Freidel, Eleanor King, and Arthur Demarest and coauthors present a valuable review of theory and methods. In Part II, seven chapters offer data-rich case studies on local economic production and exchange. The underlying theme is that there is clear evidence for the existence of Classic period markets. Markets of many sizes may have been ubiquitous. The authors find nuanced ways to ascertain how important markets were in relation to other forms of exchange and what role, if any, that the elite played in market systems. As with other aspects of Lowland Maya civilization, the panorama is of great diversity. Keith Eppich's analysis of polychrome ceramic distribution among household groups at El Peru-Waka (Chapter 9) stands out for its cogent application of the distributional approach intended by Kenneth Hirth (“The Distributional Approach: A New Way to Identify Market Behavior Using Archaeological Data,” Current Anthropology, 1998) to measure market exchanges.

Part III features discussions of the environmental basis for the Maya economy and the revelation that two assumptions concerning land-tenure rights and the prevalence of maize as a prehispanic crop may result from reliance on colonial sources. Scott Fedick (Chapter 13) presents a staggering cornucopia of plant foods that Maya farmers likely relied on, many of them from trees, which would have required long-term investment and care. The findings by Adolfo Batún Alpuche and colleagues (Chapter 12) on pre- and postconquest Yucatec land tenure support a scenario in which farmers’ claim to parcels was based on their ”development” for intensive, long-term agriculture. That this might be the case in the Classic period is quite visible in lidar maps of the Lowlands that show ubiquitous terracing and stone walls that define fields as large as 1–2 ha. These fields represent multigenerational investments to support the needs of a large population and the requirements of tribute and trade (Canuto et al., “Ancient Lowland Maya Complexity as Revealed by Airborne Laser Scanning of Northern Guatemala,” Science, 2018).

Part IV provides a number of insightful case studies on the involvement of elites in economic matters. Kenichiro Tsukamoto's analysis (Chapter 15) of the funerary offerings of an ally of the Kaanul kings includes an important admonition that elites’ wealth may have been subject more to the volatility of politics than to any other factor. Alexandre Tokovinine's study (Chapter 16) of colonial period tallies documents Maya labor and debt; one wonders whether the production for public consumption documented by Payson Sheets at Cerén, El Salvador, was recorded on similar tallies. These findings close the gaps in comparative records of economic transactions among Mayas and other ancient civilizations.

Part V, dedicated to regional exchange, opens with Richard Hansen and colleagues’ views on the Preclassic economy of the El Mirador region. They present a scenario in which a vast network of causeways, similar to Caracol's Classic period causeways in Belize, was designed to facilitate the movement of goods from fields to elite-supervised market plazas. However, in the absence of data on the distribution of Preclassic artifacts and residues on plaza floors, such as those documented by Bernadette Cap at Buenavista del Cayo, a Late Classic site in Belize (Chapter 22), the scenario remains hypothetical. More insights on Classic Maya trade can be gained by exploring computer-generated transpeninsular routes and the sites located along them (Beniamino Volta et al., Chapter 20). Where site locations diverge from hypothetical paths, things become revealing. The wide range of studies include Chloé Andrieu's enlightening analysis (Chapter 24) of chert and obsidian deposits in burials and Dorie Reents-Budet and Ronald Bishop's review (Chapter 19) of cotton and cacao production and exchange networks.

In sum, as noted in the concluding chapters by Norman Yoffee and Marilyn Masson, the study of ancient Maya economy has made huge progress. Maya cities and their economies—stimulated by the interdependence of urban and rural populations, a high degree of long-distance commerce and specialization, and an apparent relative freedom from institutional control—appear ever more complex and similar in their operational structure to the cities and economies of other ancient civilizations. A variety of economic solutions developed in different areas based on access to natural resources, trade routes, and proximity to great centers of power and exchange. This book well represents this variability and the plethora of approaches and views. The range and depth of the contributions are unprecedented and well worth the effort it requires to get through them, even for graduate-level or advanced professionals. The reader will come out of this tour de force well informed about what we currently know about the Classic Maya economy and will appreciate how much more remains for us to do before we can assert with confidence that we have a grasp on how Maya kingdoms prospered and collapsed.