gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, archaeogemology, Pre-Columbian jade; Costa Rica; Maya; exchange; iconography, lapidary

Two important studies in Maya archaeology form the foundation of this book: A Study of Maya Art: Its Subject Matter and Development, by Herbert J. Spinden (1913); and The Inscriptions of Peten, by Sylvanus G. Morley (1937–38). The first established, with notable success, a series of stylistic changes in sculpture at a number of the larger Maya sites; the second provided epigraphic decipherments which permitted the dating of many more monuments in the Peten than was formerly possible. With this much more substantial body of dated material than was available at the time of Spinden’s study, we are now able to confirm many of his findings and to elaborate the basis of stylistic appraisal, extending it to all Classic Maya sites. It is because so much reliance has been placed on Morley’s epigraphic work that disagreements between his stylistic appraisals and mine have been stressed in this book. This, however, should not be construed as a derogation of his conclusions, which rest primarily on epigraphic sources. Our differences serve only to indicate the need to establish definite and significant style characteristics on which future discussion can be based. This is the principal aim of this study; it would have been futile to pursue it without the collection of epigraphic data and interpretation which Morley’s work makes available.