Articulating Economies in the Land of the Ik’ Lords: Evidence for Marketplaces and Multiple Modes of Exchange in the Late Classic Motul de San José Polity

Summary

More than a decade of research in the Motul de San José area has produced a rich corpus of household middens and domestic artifact assemblages reflecting a wide range of social statuses and occupations at a diverse set of local centers. This body of data permits a detailed bottom-up consideration of patterns of production, consumption, and distribution for a wide range of goods within and between member communities in the Late Classic Motul polity. This paper examines the evidence for marketplace exchange in the Motul area through the lens of household-level obsidian and ceramic consumption data. These data strongly support the identification of markets within the Motul polity, and, further, suggest likely locations; however, these data also highlight the complexity of local economics and provide evidence for multiple modes of exchange.

Cite this Record

Articulating Economies in the Land of the Ik’ Lords: Evidence for Marketplaces and Multiple Modes of Exchange in the Late Classic Motul de San José Polity. Matthew Moriarty, Antonia Foias, Ellen Moriarty. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Orlando, Florida. 2016 ( tDAR id: 403026)

Keywords

General
Economy Markets Maya

Geographic Keywords
Mesoamerica

Spatial Coverage

min long: -107.271; min lat: 12.383 ; max long: -86.353; max lat: 23.08 ;