An archaeological exploration of the role of creativity and invention in the ancient Maya civilization
Drawing on archaeological findings from the Maya lowlands, War Owl Falling
shows how innovation and creativity led to social change in ancient
societies. Markus Eberl discusses the ways eighth-century Maya (and Maya
commoners in particular) reinvented objects and signs that were
associated with nobility, including scepters, ceramic vessels, ballgame
equipment, and the symbol of the owl. These innovations, he argues,
reflect assertions of independence and a redistribution of power that
contributed to the Maya collapse in the Late Classic period.
Eberl
emphasizes that decision-making—the ability to imagine alternate worlds
and to act on that vision—plays a large role in changing social
structure over time. Contextualizing these decisions in his "Garden of
Forking Paths" model, Eberl shows how innovators were those individuals
who imagined an array of possible futures and negotiated power to reach
desirable outcomes. He dissects the social underpinning of Maya
creativity by illustrating their situated method of learning via
observation and imitation, stressing that societal constraints or
opportunities dictated whether members’ ideas were realized. Pinpointing
where and when Maya inventions emerged, how individuals adopted them
and why, War Owl Falling connects technological and social change in a novel way.
A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase