Maya Cities

This is an English translation of Cites Maya, first published in Paris in 1954. What is true of the French edition is also true of the English, that it is the work of an informed and sensitive observer, seeking to capture the spirit of Maya civilization in a brief exposition. There is no intention here to be encyclopedic or exhaustive. The materials are carefully selected and succinctly set forth, and for most subjects the author relies on familiar secondary writings. Many elements of Maya civilization apart from its urbanism are introduced: linguistics, physical types, writing, religion, and the modern Maya. The principal new contribution is the series of photographic reproductions, notably those of the 1949 exploration of Palenque by Alberto Ruz Lhuillier and Jesús Núñez Chinchilla, and others from the collections of Henri Lehmann, François Chevalier, Jacques Soustelle, and the Musée de l’Homme (of which Paul Rivet was the founder). The translation by Miriam and Lionel Kochan is straightforward and unpretentious, if occasionally too literal (the final chapter begins: “In concluding this exposé …”). An attitude of aesthetic appreciation is maintained throughout. Notes and bibliography are scant.