The Classic Maya Collapse: A Review of Evidence and Interpretations Page: 144
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144
sanctuaries than to the daily prayers offered in the champas,
the huts of the common people. Rites of blood-drawing and
of human sacrifice could not fail to please the gods, and
over such ceremonies. only the priests'presided. Respect was
demanded. This respect for the priesthood was in some measure
transferred to the political rulers, whose alliance with the
Holy Ones was close, the dynastic rulers often grooming
members of their clan to serve in a priestly capacity. How-
ever, none of the accomplishments of the Classic Maya could
have been effected without the peasant, who worked in his
milpa to provide the agricultural surplus that specialized
occupations demand. That generations of peasants would
unwillingly serve the Maya hierarchy seems unlikely. As
in later times, discontented Maya could have migrated from
the population centers and established themselves in small
units, far from hierarchical control. We must assume that the
Maya peasant possessed sufficient incentive to remain a mem-
ber of Classic society, even if his role was that of a sub-
ordinate, perhaps ranking on the social scale only above the
slave. It has been said that the monumental building programs
of the late Classic Maya were successful only through the
exercise of a coercive authority over the entire population.
One need only look at modern capitals throughout the world
and ask if they were constructed in the same manner or whether
a measure of free will motivated the laborer.
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Wood, Jeffrey Clark. The Classic Maya Collapse: A Review of Evidence and Interpretations, thesis, December 1977; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc504349/m1/148/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .