gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, geology, fashioning, cutting, jade artifacts, archaeology

In this work, I review the history of research on jade in Guatemala. Changes in the acquisition, production, and distribution of jade in the Maya world from the Preclassic through the Postclassic periods are examined, together with the ways in which archaeological understanding of these processes has evolved. Jade and greenstone cannot be considered solely the property of elites within Maya culture, as they were produced and exchanged in a variety of contexts. Archaeological, ethnohistoric, and iconographic evidence, together with chemical analyses of source materials, are reviewed in order to investigate the use and significance of jade among the ancient Maya.