An Exchange of Ideas: Recent Research on Maya Commodities

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "An Exchange of Ideas: Recent Research on Maya Commodities" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This symposium explores recent anthropological research concerning commodities among Maya peoples from Formative times to the historic period, whose production was imposed by colonial powers. We think of commodities in a very general sense: any material item that is intended for exchange. Commodities can range from necessities that everyone needed to luxuries that were only obtained by kings and queens. Commodities can be examined in a number of different ways including their function, raw material source, or labor value. The symposium features a varied set of presenters to examine a wide variety of different commodities and various approaches to their analysis and interpretation. We hope the session appeals to attendees interested in the Maya and also those whose thematic focus deals with ancient commodities.