Interpreting Ancient Maya Civic Plans: Reply to Smith

Abstract

AbstractIn response to Smith’s critique, we situate our work within the scientific method. We review how our hypotheses arose, how and by whom they have been tested, and with what results. Like Smith, we focus on whether Maya civic centers include emphatic expression of a north-south axis, and on the inference of a partially cosmological basis of Maya axial orders. We indicate sources of our inferences and review explicitly the criteria that Smith faults us for having omitted. We reaffirm that these ideas merit further testing, and welcome renewed and expanded collaboration as to the best methods for doing so. In the spirit of collaboration, we offer specific programmatic suggestions for how this inquiry might proceed.