While it is tempting to assume that empirical advancements inexorably lead to incremental improvement in our understanding of the past, the impact of ideas—even empirically untenable positions—often impede disciplinary progress. This paper examines the intellectual history of changing views of Classic Maya political organization, from the formulation of the “traditional synthesis” to contemporary debates. Although the traditional synthesis did not stand up to empirical evaluation, elements of the model continued to have substantive impact into the 21st century. This historical overview is part of a broader critique of ways we create and evaluate theories about the ancestral Maya past. With a century of archaeological research and the maturation of epigraphic research providing a rich empirical foundation, the successes or failures of the next generation of research will be governed by advancements in theory building and long overdue methodological reforms.

中文翻译：

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旧观念的惯性：经典玛雅政治组织研究中的理论和方法挑战的历史回顾

虽然很容易以为经验的进步必然导致我们对过去的了解逐渐增加，但思想的影响（甚至是经验上站不住脚的立场）通常会阻碍学科的进步。本文考察了从经典传统的提法到当代辩论的经典玛雅政治组织观点转变的思想史。尽管传统的综合方法不能经受经验评估，但是该模型的要素在21世纪仍然具有实质性影响。此历史概述是对我们创建和评估有关祖先玛雅人的理论的方式的更广泛批判的一部分。在一个世纪的考古研究和人口学研究的成熟提供了丰富的经验基础之后，