Maya Lithic Economies at Piedras Negras, Guatemala: Production and Exchange in an Elite Architectural Complex

Summary

In recent years significant headway has been made to understand New World marketing systems. In contrast with the highly complex and easily identifiable market systems of the Mexican Highlands, ancient Maya systems of production and distribution have traditionally been assumed to have operated at the level of the household, and thus have been overlooked. However, recent work in the Maya area has shown the likely presence of production beyond the household at possible market areas. In this paper, we examine evidence from the 2016 field season at Piedras Negras, Guatemala for trade and production of jade, obsidian, and chert in the southern sector. We rely on a combination of lithic analysis, ethnographic data, and recent research on Pre-Columbian markets to better understand economic dynamics at this major Maya site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14688