Being Maya: Identity, Ontology, Agency.

The emergence and development of complex societies in the Maya lowlands entailed the innovation of cultural identities of scale. The aggregation and coordination of effort to build and maintain centers helped this; the innovation and perpetuation of institutions sustaining large and dispersed populations were predicated on being members of imagined communities declared and orchestrated by exemplary leaders. This process was facilitated by bringing people into ceremonial centers that mirrored realities transcending local differences. Being Maya, ontologies expressed in myths, world views, histories, shared within and between local societies was a necessary precondition to Maya civilization and its myriad regional expressions. Translating such postulated living dynamics into substantive and discernable empirical patterns of the past is another key aspect of the on-going challenge addressed by the Working Group.