Political Decentralization in the Puuc Region, Yucatán, Mexico

Abstract

As many of the great Classic Maya cities of the Southern Maya Lowlands went into decline in the late eighth or early ninth centuries A.D., numerous cities in the Puuc region of the Northern Maya Lowlands began their brief but spectacular florescence. Scholars have inferred that these closely packed Puuc cities were politically independent for much of their florescence. This article examines the politically decentralized landscape of the Puuc region with particular attention to the city of Sayil. It then argues that general comparisons with decentralized agrarian societies in widespread geographic areas and at many different times might enable archaeologists to formulate hypotheses which could further illuminate the decentralized political system of the Puuc region.