Chapter 1
1. Drastic change or revolution (e.g., the French and Russian revolutions) usually occurs when current religious, political, social, and/or economic systems fail, or as a result of external causes such as conquest.
Chapter 2
1. Maya dates are based on regional ceramic chronologies, many of which have been refined with radiocarbon dates (Andrews 1990). Most political events are based on deciphered inscriptions.
2. While prehispanic annual rainfall may have been different than at present, the relative differences of rainfall between areas should be similar.
Chapter 4
1. This section is an expanded version of the ritual history of Saturday Creek presented in Lucero (2003).
2. This feature also might be the remnants of a hearth that the Maya cleaned out and covered.
Chapter 6
1. This section is an expanded version of the ritual history of Tikal presented in Lucero (2003).
Chapter 7
1. The question is why the Maya eventually abandoned these areas one or several centuries before the arrival of the Spanish.
2. It is interesting to note that Chichén Itzá iconography has a noticeable presence of water-lily motifs associated with monumental public architecture (see Rands 1953 : Tables 1–4). Yet water lilies cannot grow in the deep waters of sacred cenotes but can grow in shallow lakes and cenotes.
Chapter 8
1. Also relatively rare are revolutions or a total replacement of political systems caused by the masses. For example, in France “what fell in 1789 was not a state, but a system of government” (Cowgill 1988:257). The Russian revolution did not result in equality for all but in a replacement of one bureaucracy with another.