Rights to Land and Labor in Yucatán during Pre-Conquest and Colonial Times

Summary

Land and labor are particularly integral to agrarian economies. The extent to which either is exchanged, sold, inherited, or privatized can shape the dynamics of hierarchy, habitation, and migration as well as exchange. The diverse perspectives on Yucatec possession of land—from assertions of private property to denial of property as a relevant concept—are reviewed for both pre-Conquest and Colonial times. Relevant data include land plot demarcations, historical documentation of land struggles, and Yucatec Maya linguistics. In reference to labor, evidence for the mobilization of work parties is examined across the time spectrum with attention to its materialization in the form of monumental architecture, large ceramic basins, and feasting debris. The manifestation of labor as tribute goods can be identified through extant tax records, patterns of trade, and the necessity of food imports. A historically and geographically contingent model of power over land and labor is offered for Yucatán.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Nuts and Bolts of the Real "Business" of Ancient Maya Exchange (Part 1)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage