Complementary Economic Specialization in an Emerging Decentralized Exchange System: A Case from the Late Classic Naco Valley, Honduras

Summary

This paper describes the reuse of a small structure at Late Classic (CE 600-900) Site 426 in the Naco Valley, northwest Honduras. The structure shows evidence of being converted from residential use to firing ceramic vessels. The current interpretation of the structure’s reuse is that it emerged as a center of ceramic manufacture as power waned at La Sierra, the valley’s previous political capital. In this context, Site 426’s residents, along with their immediate neighbors, sought some prominence and economic security by engaging in the complementary production of different goods for their own use and exchange with others within and beyond the valley. Recovery of a cached Peten polychrome vessel at the structure implies that this strategy enjoyed some success.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21575