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This essay reviews the following works:
Maya Gods of War. By Karen Bassie-Sweet. Louisville: University Press of Colorado, 2021. Pp. viii + 324. $66.00 hardcover. ISBN: 978-1-64642-131-2.
Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler. By William Frej. Santa Fe, NM: Peyton Wright Gallery Press, 2020. Pp. 291. $55.17 hardcover. ISBN: 978-0-578-63921-5.
Archaeology and Identity on the Pacific Coast and Southern Highlands of Meso-America. Edited by Claudia García-Des Lauriers and Michael W. Love. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2016. Pp. ix + 226. $60.00 hardcover. ISBN: 978-1-60781-504-4.
Life and Politics at the Royal Court of Aguateca: Artifacts, Analytical Data, and Synthesis. Edited by Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2014. Pp. vii + 356. $30.00 hardcover. ISBN: 978-1-60781-318-7.
Miscellaneous Investigations in Central Tikal: Structures in and around the Lost World Plaza. By H. Stanley Loten. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2018. Pp. xvii + 36. $55.00 hardcover. ISBN: 978-1-934536-97-1.
Miscellaneous Investigations in Central Tikal: Great Temples III, IV, V, and VI. By H. Stanley Loten. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2017. Pp. xix + 61. $59.95 hardcover. ISBN: 978-1-934536-93-3.
The Real Business of Ancient Maya Economies: From Farmers' Fields to Rulers' Realms. Edited by Marilyn A. Masson, David A. Freidel, and Arthur A. Demarest. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2020. Pp. xvii + 631. $125.00 hardcover. ISBN: 978-0813066-29-5.
The Origins of Maya States. Edited by Loa P. Traxler and Robert J. Sharer. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2016. Pp. ix + 681. $69.95 hardcover. ISBN: 978-1-934536-86-5.

In archaeology, along with a large sector of other social sciences, comparative approaches to long-term political change over the last two centuries have been underpinned by two big ideas, classification and evolution, which often have been manifest as cultural history and progress. Despite comparative archaeology's agenda to explain change, the conceptual core of these frames was grounded in the building of stepped sequences of transformation with expectations drawn from synchronic empirical snapshots in time. Nevertheless, especially over the last 70 years, archaeology has seen the generation and analysis of unprecedented volumes of data collected along multiple dimensions and a range of spatial scales. Compilation and comparison of these data reveal significant diversity along various dimensions, which have begun to create dissonance with key tenets, assumptions, and even the aims of extant, long-held approaches. Expanded conceptual framing with a shift toward a focus on explaining variation and change is necessary.

A Review of Fiscal Regimes and the Political Economy of Premodern States, edited by Andrew Monson and Walter Scheidel (Cambridge University Press, 2015), and Ancient Taxation: The Mechanics of Extraction in Comparative Perspective, edited by Jonathan Valk and Irene Soto Marín (New York University Press, 2021)

This essay reviews the following works:Ancient Maya Pottery: Classification, Analysis, and Interpretation. Edited by James John Aimers. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2013. Pp. vii + 293. $79.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780813042367.The Huasteca: Culture, History, and Interregional Exchange. Edited by Katherine A. Faust and Kim N. Richter. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015. Pp. vii + 241. $55.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780806147048.Excavations in Residential Areas of Tikal: Group 7F-1. By William A. Haviland. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2015. Pp. xi + 133. $65.00 cloth. ISBN: 9781934536810.Politics of the Maya Court: Hierarchy and Change in the Late Classic Period. By Sarah E. Jackson. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2013. Pp. ix + 248. $29.95 hardback. ISBN: 9780806143415.The Ancient Maya Marketplace: The Archaeology of Transient Space. Edited by Eleanor M. King. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2015. Pp. vii + 325. $60.54 cloth. ISBN: 9780816500413.The Spectacle of the Late Maya Court: Reflections on the Murals of Bonampak. By Mary Miller and Claudia Brittenham. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013. Pp. xi + 285. $54.05 cloth. ISBN: 9780292744363.Maya Lords and Lordship: The Formation of Colonial Society in Yucatán, 1350–1600. By Sergio Quezada. Translated by Terry Rugeley. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014. Pp. ix + 248. $34.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780806144221.Place and Identity in Classic Maya Narratives. By Alexandre Tokovinine. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection/Harvard University Press, 2015. Pp. vii + 180. $39.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780884023920.

The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas: Vol. 2: Mesoamerica, Part 1. Richard E. W. Adams and Murdo J. MacLeod. eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 571 pp.The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas: Vol. 2: Mesoamerica, Part 2. Richard E. W. Adams and Murdo J. MacLeod. eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 455 pp.

To date, macro-scale analyses of ancient Mesoamcrica principally have debated whether or not Mesoamerica was a world-system and have described macroregional processes at the eve of the Spanish Conquest. This paper defines two alternative organizational modes (corporate-based/network-based) that serve to conceptualize diversity in strategics of leadership, production, and exchange. Collective mechanisms of integration arc central to corporate strategics, while network-based organization is heavily rooted in the personal connections and material accumulations of individuals. Consideration of these modes helps to define patterns of temporal and spatial diversity in the structure of the prehispanic Mesoamerican world.

Obsidian Across the Americas draws attention to recent obsidian studies in the Americas and acts as a reference for archaeologists and scholars interested in material culture and exchange. Moreover, it provides a wide range of case studies in obsidian characterization, material application, and theoretical interpretations in the Americas. The limited geographic occurrence and relatively homogenous nature of obsidian have made the material ideal for archaeometric studies. Since Cann and Renfrew's seminal paper in 1967 on the compositional analysis of obsidian in the Mediterranean, analytical techniques have improved, identification and characterization of sources have increased, and applications have broadened geographically and theoretically to address various socio-cultural activities and behaviours around the world. While many previous publications have focused on different aspects of obsidian characterization, this volume uniquely presents obsidian compositional studies from across the Americas that have relied on the instrumentation housed in the Elemental Analysis Facility at the Field Museum of Natural History. The case studies, which feature materials from North American, Mesoamerican, and South American geological sources, explore the ways in which obsidian analyses have been used to investigate interactions, socio-economic exchanges, and socio-cultural change at multiple scales in the past.

Intro -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Pottery and People -- 2. The Chaco-Chuska Connection: In Defense of Anna Shepard -- 3. Socialization in American Southwest Pottery Decoration -- 4. Standardization and Specialization: What's the Link? -- 5. Advantages and Disadvantages of Vertical-Half Molding Technology: Implications for Production Organization -- 6. Rethinking our Assumptions: Economic Specialization at the Household Scale in Ancient Ejutla, Oaxaca, Mexico -- 7. Ceramics and Social Contexts of Food Consumption in the Northern Southwest -- 8. Levels of Complexity: Ceramic Variability at Vijayanagara -- 9. Finely Crafted Ceramics and Distant Lands: Classic Mixtequilla -- 10. Tecomates, Residential Mobility, and Early Formative Occupation in Coastal Lowland Mesoamerica -- 11. Exploring the Origins of Pottery on the Colorado Plateau -- 12. "Looking Up" at Early Ceramics in Greece -- 13. A Behavioral Theory of Meaning -- References Cited -- Index -- Contributors.