Maya Figurines

"This is, as far as I am aware, the only book-length, single-authored, sustained, and theoretically-situated study of Late Classic Maya figurines, and it is long overdue for the field of Maya studies... This book is one of a kind and fills a major void in the field for this period." -- Julia Guernsey, Professor of Art History and Associate Chair, Department of Art and Art History, University of Texas at Austin, and author of Ritual and Power in Stone: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art and Sculpture and Social Dynamics in Preclassic Mesoamerica

The first systematic analysis of ceramic figurines from multiple regions of the Southern Maya Lowlands, this book explores the construction of the Late Classic period Maya state by considering how figurines found in household refuse deposits mirror the re

Rather than view the contours of Late Classic Maya social life solely from towering temple pyramids or elite sculptural forms, this book considers a suite of small anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and supernatural figurative remains excavated from household refuse deposits. Maya Figurines examines these often neglected objects and uses them to draw out relationships between the Maya state and its subjects.

These figurines provide a unique perspective for understanding Maya social and political relations; Christina T. Halperin argues that state politics work on the microscale of everyday routines, localized rituals, and small-scale representations. Her comprehensive study brings together archeology, anthropology, and art history with theories of material culture, performance, political economy, ritual humor, and mimesis to make a fascinating case for the role politics plays in daily life. What she finds is that, by comparing small-scale figurines with state-sponsored, often large-scale iconography and elite material culture, one can understand how different social realms relate to and represent one another. In Maya Figurines, Halperin compares objects from diverse households, archeological sites, and regions, focusing especially on figurines from Petén, Guatemala, and comparing them to material culture from Belize, the northern highlands of Guatemala, the Usumacinta River, the Campeche coastal area, and Mesoamerican sites outside the Maya zone. Ultimately, she argues, ordinary objects are not simply passive backdrops for important social and political phenomena. Instead, they function as significant mechanisms through which power and social life are intertwined.