Lost Civilizations: The Maya

Megan E. O’Neil, assistant professor of art history and museum curator at Emory University, delves into ancient Maya art and architecture, primarily from the Late Classic period (600–900), and explores how people from the 16th century to the present have perceived, portrayed, and exploited Maya art and culture.

Focusing on several case studies, O’Neil elaborates on the skill and creativity of ancient Maya artists. She examines both how they manipulated materials like limestone, jadeite, or ceramics and how they emulated those materials in other media, expressing understandings of their world and cultivating relationships with other people, ancestors, and deities through art and architecture. She also illustrates examples of the history of modern engagement with the ancient Maya, involving Indigenous activism, scientific literature, and visual arts.

O’Neil’s book The Maya: Lost Civilizations (Reaktion Books) is available for purchase.

Book Sale Information

• Purchase your copy of The Maya: Lost Civilizations by Megan E. O’Neil here.
• SPECIAL NOTE: Politics and Prose is offering a 10% discount to Smithsonian Associates ticket-holders. To claim your discount, enter the code SPECIAL10 (no space between letters and numbers) in the “Coupon discount” section on Politics and Prose's check-out page.

Additional Lost Civilizations Programs

• November 22: The Nubia
• December 6: Egypt
• December 13: The Incas

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