Models of political organization in Neopalatial Crete: a cross-cultural approach from mayan archaeology

Abstract

In this work, it will be analyzed to what extent the archaeology of the Mayan culture can be useful to clarify the debate about the organization and political interaction on the island of Crete during the Neopalatial period. This analogy is not whimsical; since this topic has generated intense debates in the field of Cretan archaeology, some researchers have considered that the models used for the lowlands of Mesoamerica may be useful to provide new answers. Faced with this situation, this research has four general objectives: first, to offer some theoretical-methodological bases to carry out this analogical analysis; second, briefly describe the state of the art in Minoan studies on this debate; third, to systematize the different models proposed for the Mayan culture considering their epistemological and hermeneutical bases; and, finally, evaluate the merits (and defects) of using this analogy.