Dr Demarest is the Ingram Professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee. For more than twenty-five years he has directed archaeological field excavations at ancient sites in the highlands, coasts and rain forests of Central America and is considered a leading authority on early Olmec, particularly Mayan civilization.

• 1. The mystery and the challenge of the Ancient Maya; 2. Background: geography, chronology, and theoretical perspective; 3. The exploration and archaeology of the Maya: a brief history; 4. Obscure beginnings and the preclassic florescence; 5. The splinter of classic Maya florescence in the lowlands; 6. Settlement and subsistence: the rain forest adaptation; 7. Classic Maya economics; 8. Religion and ideology: beliefs and ritual of the theater state; 9. Classic Maya politics and history: the dynamics of the theater state; 10. The end of classic Maya civilization: collapse, transition, and transformation; 11. The legacy of the classic Maya civilization: postclassic, colonial, and modern traditions; 12. The lessons of Maya history and prehistory.

'In Ancient Maya, Arthur Demarest, an authority on the Olmec and Maya civilisations, applies an holistic, theoretically-integrated perspective to this study of archaeology, paleoecology, and epigraphy, as well as to his evaluations of fellow scholars. The resulting interpretation covers both practical and spiritual aspects of Classic Maya life from the first to the eighth centuries, including their adaptations to their rainforest environment (agriculture, arboriculture, hydraulic works, and so on), economics and trade, religion and ideology, and politics.' British Bulletin of Publications