Abstract

Maya Wisdom and the Survival of Our Planet presents the Maya way of seeing and interacting with the world, which embodies lessons and provides solutions to ensure a sustainable future of Earth. This book is based on over three decades of working with Maya associates in Belize, Central America, to study the ancestral Maya as an archaeologist, and it approaches the future through the lens of the Maya nonanthropocentric inclusive worldview. Ancestral Maya people worked with, not against, nature. Nor did they privilege humans at the expense of nonhumans. Their engagement with the tropical environment was expressed in a landscape of green cities, farmsteads, gardens, fields, forests, and sacred places. The Maya built green cities that drew people in through royal reservoirs, a system that lasted over 1,000 years in the southern lowlands (c. 300 bce to 900 ce). After taking the reader on a journey through Maya history, their tropical world, and how they lived in it and engaged with nonhumans through ceremonies, the book concludes with concrete solutions that bridge the past and present for the future. Conditions are not going to change, but people can. Maya resilience is a testament for how to move forward, and this book provides a roadmap of how to do so.
Original languageEnglish (US)
PublisherOxford University Press
Number of pages264
ISBN (Electronic)9780197765739
ISBN (Print)9780197765708
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 27 2025

Keywords

  • lessons
  • resilience
  • nonhumans
  • tropical environment
  • Maya wisdom
  • inclusive worldview
  • archaeologist
  • sustainable future
  • solutions

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