Ceramic Paste Distribution and Market Exchange in the Tlacolula Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Summary

Over four decades ago, economic anthropologists recognized the importance of marketplace exchanges in the contemporary Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, but the historic roots of this region’s exchange system were less clear. Was the Oaxaca market system a product of recent capitalism, Spanish Conquest, Aztec imperialism, or were underpinnings even deeper in the past? Here, we examine INAA studies of ceramic assemblages from two Classic-period (ca. AD 200-850) sites in the Tlacolula arm of the Valley of Oaxaca, in conjunction with the distribution of other commodities, to argue that the roots of this modern economic institution extend back to at least this period, well before an Aztec or European presence.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Mapping out Pottery Production and Exchange in the Late Classic Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico

Keywords

Spatial Coverage