A peer-reviewed journal in open-access on the archaeology, epigraphy, ethnohistory,
linguistics, and anthropology of the Maya
edited by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire and C. Mathew Saunders,
and masterfully laid out by Joel Skidmore
Una revista revisada por pares en acceso abierto sobre la arqueología, epigrafía,
etnohistoria, lingüística y antropología de los mayas
Spanish language edition by Jocelyne M. Ponce — Edición en español por Jocelyne M. Ponce
Our translators are Abril Jimenez, Julio César López Otero, and Jocelyne Ponce.
Nuestros traductores son Abril Jimenez, Julio César López Otero y Jocelyne M Ponce.
We are delighted to offer free downloadable PDF’s of our journal.
The production of The Mayanist is only possible thanks to our small team of dedicated volunteers and editors.
If you would like to help us keep our journal free and awesome, please consider donating when downloading a copy.
Click on the name of issues to download or on the + sign to download any individual article.
Haga clic en el nombre de los números para descargarlos o en el signo + para descargar cualquier artículo individual.
+ Volume 1, Number 1 – Guest edited by William M. Ringle
- The Editorial
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, C. Mathew Saunders, and William M. Ringle
- Prehispanic Maya Burnt Lime Pit-Kilns and Environmental Resource Conservation
Los hornos de cal mayas prehispánicos y la conservación de recursos ambientales
by Kenneth E. Seligson
- Organization of Masonry Technology in the Eastern Puuc: Evidence from Escalera al Cielo, Yucatán
- Organización de la tecnología de mampostería en el Puuc Oriental: evidencia de Escalera al Cielo, Yucatán
by Evan Parker, George J. Bey III, and Tomás Gallareta Negrón
- Building Quality of Life and Social Cohesion at Ucanha During the Terminal Preclassic
- Construyendo calidad de vida y cohesión social en Ucanha durante el Preclásico Terminal
by Barry Kidder, Scott Hutson, Jacob Welch, and Shannon Plank
- The Return of the Toltecs: Reconsidering the “Toltec Invasion Hypothesis” at Chichen Itza
- El retorno de los toltecas: Reconsiderando la “hipótesis de la invasión tolteca” en Chichén Itzá
by Stanley Guenter
+ Volume 1, Number 2 – Guest edited by Harri Kettunen
- The Editorial
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, C. Mathew Saunders, and Harri Kettunen
- Sedentism, Specialization, and Economic Activity among the Lowland Classic Period Maya
- Sedentarismo, Especialización y Actividad Económica entre los Mayas de las Tierras Bajas Del Período Clásico
by Rachel A. Horowitz
- Reading (between) the Lines: Cultural Insight through Palaeographic Analysis
- Leer (entre) líneas: La comprensión cultural a través del análisis paleográfico
by Emily Davis-Hale
- Comparing Archaeological Cultures along the Northern and Southern Gulf Coasts of Mexico
- Comparación de culturas arqueológicas en las costas norte y sur del Golfo de México
by Jayur Madhusudan Mehta and Haley Holt Mehta
- Observations Based on Transillumination Photography of Diego de Landa’s Relación de las cosas de Yucatán
- Observaciones basadas en la fotografía por transiluminación de la Relación de las cosas de Yucatán de Diego de Landa
by Harri Kettunen
+ Volume 2, Number 1 – Guest edited by Brent K. S. Woodfill -- Spanish version co-edited by Jocelyne M. Ponce
- The Editorial
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, C. Mathew Saunders, and Brent K. S. Woodfill
- Long-Term Collaborative Research with Lacandon Maya at Mensäbäk, Chiapas, Mexico
- Colaboración a Largo Plazo para la Investigación con los Mayas Lacandones en Mensäbäk, Chiapas, México
by Joel W. Palka, A. Fabiola Sánchez Balderas, Ian Hollingshead, Alice Balsanelli, Chris Hernandez, Santiago Juárez, Josuhé Lozada Toledo, R. Jon McGee, and Sebastián Salgado-Flores
- The Emergence of the Ancient Maya Kaqchikel Polity As Explained through the Dawn tradition in the Guatemalan Highlands
- El Surgimiento de la Antigua Unidad Política Kaqchikel del Altiplano Guatemalteco Explicado a través de la Tradición del Amanecer
by Iyaxel Cojti Ren
- The Archaeology of Intensive Beekeeping in Postclassic Yucatán
- Arqueología de la apicultura intensiva durante el Postclásico de la Península de Yucatán
by Adolfo Iván Batún Alpuche
- Disaster, Deluge, and Destruction on the Star War Vase
by Marc Zender
- Ancient Maya Politics: A Political Anthropology of the Classic Period 150-900 CE. SIMON MARTIN. 2020. Cambridge University Press
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire
+ Volume 2, Number 2 – Guest edited by Jocelyne M. Ponce
- The Editorial
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, C. Mathew Saunders, and Jocelyne M. Ponce
- Voices and Narratives beyond Texts: The Life-History of a Classic Maya Building
by Jocelyne M. Ponce, Caroline A. Parris, Marcello A. Canuto, and Tomás Barrientos Q.
- Zombie Words: Kaqchikel Revitalizationists’ Use of Colonial Texts to Repurpose Vocabulary
by Judith M. Maxwell
- Los mayas de hoy: reavivando el sistema de escritura antigua
por Walter Amilcar Paz Joj
+ Volume 3, Number 1 – Guest edited by Claire Novotny
- The Editorial
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, C. Mathew Saunders, and Claire Novotny
- Interweaving Knowledge and Foregrounding Local Interests: Reflections on Building Collaborative Partnerships with Indigenous Communities
by Dylan J. Clark, Diane L. Slocum, and Nancy Strickland Fields
- Decolonizing the Classroom and Centering the Biocultural Heritage of Cenotes in Yucatán, México
by Khristin Landry Montes, Patricia A. McAnany, and Iván Bátun Alpuche
- The Maya Scripta Project: Museum, University, and Community-Engaged Scholarship in Dolores, Petén, Guatemala
- El Proyecto Maya Scripta: Museo, universidad e involucramiento comunitario en Dolores, Petén, Guatemala
by Rubén Morales Forte, Walter Hoil, Francisco Pérez, José Quixcan, Melsin Aguilar, Zurama García, Sálman Zarax and Tomás Barrientos
- Community-Engaged Archaeology and the Question of Rigor
by Maia Dedrick
- Examining Blind Spots and Assumptions Impeding Community Archaeology in the Maya World
by Brent K. S. Woodfill
- Persisting Worldviews and Conflicted Development along the Ruta Maya
by C. Mathews Samson and Alisha Kendrick-Pradhan
- Documenting the Brigades: Oral History of Local Archaeology Experts in the Puuc Region, Yucatán, México
by Tomás Gallareta Cervera
- The ‘Month Signs’ in Diego de Landa’s Relacion de las cosas de Yucatán
by Harri Kettunen and Marc Zender
+ Volume 3, Number 2 – Guest edited by Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown and Shawn Morton
- The Editorial
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, C. Mathew Saunder, Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown, and Shawn Morton
- “Building Blood”: An Ethnographic Look at Plants in Medicine and Myth among the Mopan Maya of San José, Belize
by Mark Wright and Kerry Hull
- Manjares tradicionales de San Martín Jilotepeque, Guatemala
por Dora Maritza García Patzán
- “There Was Only Joy in their Hearts When They Feasted”: Maize and Human Mediation among the Highland Maya
by Allen J. Christenson
- Mayalogue: An Interactionist Theory of Indigenous Cultures. VICTOR MONTEJO. 2021. SUNY Press
by C. Mathews Samson
+ Volume 4, Number 1 – Guest edited by Kathryn Reese-Taylor
- The Editorial
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, Kathryn Reese-Taylor, and C. Mathew Saunders
- A Diachronic Assessment of Rulership at El Tintal
by Mary Jane Acuña
- “Que los indios de Yucatán merecen que el rey les favoresca” – A New Understanding of the Structure, Composition, and Copyists of Diego de Landa’s Relación de las cosas de Yucatán by John F. Chuchiak IV and Harri Kettunen
- Building Ritual Space at Post-Royal Actuncan, Belize by David W. Mixter
- Film Review: PastPresentFuture: Archaeology and Tourism in the Yucatán. Directed and produced by Sam Pack
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire
+ Volume 4, Number 2 – Guest Edited by Matthew S. Longstaffe
- The Editorial
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, Matthew S. Longstaffe, and C. Mathew Saunders
- Becoming an Intermediate Elite: Ritual Cooperation and Urbanization at Late Preclassic Ceibal
by Melissa Burham
- Managing the Marketplace: The View from Ximbal Che, an Intermediate Elite Architectural Group at Yaxnohcah, Campeche
by Matthew S. Longstaffe, Kathryn Reese-Taylor, Debra Walker, Armando Anaya Hernández, and Felix Kupprat.
- Ancient Maya Standard-Bearers’ Foodways: Chemical Residue Analyses of Ceramic Vessels at the Guzmán Group of El Palmar, Campeche, Mexico
by Xanti Ceballos, Kenichiro Tsukamoto, Agustín Ortíz Butrón, Luis Barba, and Araceli Vázquez Villegas
- The Maya and Climate Change: Human-Environmental Relationships in the Classic Period Lowlands. KENNETH E. SELIGSON. 2023. Oxford University Press
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire
+ Volume 5, Number 1 – Guest Edited by Ramón Folch González
- The Editorial
by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, Ramón Folch González, and C. Mathew Saunders
- The Chinkultic Effigy-Urns Complex and How They Made their Way to our Museums
by Angel Sánchez Gamboa, Ramón Folch González, and Martha Cuevas García
- Old Collections and New Insights: Recent Research in the Comitán Valley and the Chaculá Region
by Caitlin Earley and Ulrich Wölfel
- Acercamiento a Algunos Topónimos de la Región de Comitán y los Lagos de Montebello, Chiapas
por Fernando Guerrero Martínez y Cristóbal Pérez Tadeo
- Language Ideologies and Choices: Tojol-ab’al and Spanish in Las Margaritas, Chiapas, Mexico
by Mary Jill Brody
+ Volume 5, Number 2 – Guest edited by Victor Castillo
- The Editorial by Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, Victor Castillo, and C. Mathew Saunders
- Maize and Community: Examining a Ritual Sequence at Kixpek, Guatemala by J. Raúl Ortiz and María Estela Flores
- Prácticas de Construcción y Destrucción en las Plataformas Altares de Chiantla Viejo, Guatemala
por Victor Castillo
- El Paleoambiente de la Planicie Costera del Pacífico de Guatemala: Una Reconstrucción Desde las Investigaciones en Montana, Escuintla
por Javier Estrada, Ashley Sharpe, Víctor Mendoza y Oswaldo Chinchilla
- Destiny’s Saints: a Re-Emergence of Divination, Prophecy-Making and Devotion to Saints in Chajul, Guatemala
by Monika Banach
+ Volume 6, Number 1 – Guest edited by Mara A. Reyes
- El Editorial por Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, Mara A. Reyes y C. Mathew Saunders
- La historia antigua de la región de Dolores, Petén, inferida de sus inscripciones
por Nicholas Carter
- Conociendo a las mujeres y niños de la Cueva 2 de Ixkun, El Petén, Guatemala: Estudios interdisciplinares de su vida, muerte y acomodo ritual
por Vera Tiesler, Gloria Hernández-Bolio, Patricia Quintana, Inés Zazueta de la Toba, Rocío Albarrán Reyes, Jakob Sedig, David Reich, Keith Prufer, Lilian Corzo y Mara A. Reyes
- Las ofrendas rituales de enterramientos del Preclásico terminal en Ixtutz y sus alrededores
por Mara A. Reyes y Lucrecia E. Dubón
- El Chal´kun, arte culinario tradicional yucateco y Mopán de Dolores, Petén, Guatemala
por Walter Everardo Hoil Heredia
Click the gallery below to see all of our amazing cover art.
Art by: Aaron Alfano (issues 1&2); Luis Fernando Luin (issue 3); Michael Thomas (issue 4); Walter Paz Joj (issues 5, 6, & 8); Daniel Parada (issue 7);
Lucerito Ochoa Say (issues 9, 10, & 11)