War owl falling : innovation, creativity, and culture change in ancient Maya society /

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 Fallingshows how innovation and creativity led to social change in ancientsocieties. Markus Eberl discusses the ways eighth-century Maya (and Mayacommoners in particular) reinvented objects and signs that wereassociated with nobility, including scepters, ceramic vessels, ballgameequipment, and the symbol of the owl. These innovations, he argues,reflect assertions of independence and a redistribution of power thatcontributed to the Maya collapse in the Late Classic period.



Eberlemphasizes that decision-making--the ability to imagine alternate worldsand to act on that vision--plays a large role in changing socialstructure over time. Contextualizing these decisions in his "Garden ofForking Paths" model, Eberl shows how innovators were those individualswho imagined an array of possible futures and negotiated power to reachdesirable outcomes. He dissects the social underpinning of Mayacreativity by illustrating their situated method of learning viaobservation and imitation, stressing that societal constraints oropportunities dictated whether members' ideas were realized. Pinpointingwhere and when Maya inventions emerged, how individuals adopted themand 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