Pochtecas and Pilgrims: Models for Elite and Commoner Exchange in the Río Sonora

Summary

The potential for the river valleys of eastern Sonora to serve as conduits for long distance trade between Mesoamerica and the U.S. Southwest was one of the original impetuses for research in the region. Researchers of the U.S. Southwest, using the same basic data sets, have come to drastically different conclusions regarding the frequency and overall importance of such long distance connections. Previous research in eastern Sonora has produced minimal direct evidence of long distance trade, but the relative dearth of excavation precludes definitive statements. This presentation will take an alternative approach that investigates the structure of local communities and economies as a means to determine what sorts of exchange economies were feasible. Quantitative methods are used to predict the likelihood of goods passing through the region under different assumptions of consumption and transmission. Down–the–line exchange seems like an ineffective way to account for the movement of most material goods, but would be effective for ideational content or goods that are divisible/replicable. Other systems of direct procurement, such as pochteca and pilgrimage economies are more feasible explanations for the rare movement of physical goods. These results offer a means to partially reconcile non-consistent previous interpretations.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• The legacy of the Río Sonora Project and other early research in Sonora, Mexico

Keywords

Spatial Coverage