Mapping the Development of Commerce: Social and Economic Processes in Middle Postclassic period Sauce, Veracruz, Mexico

Summary

This study analyzes the spatial patterns of ceramics from 65 archaeological residential inventories from the center of Sauce and its hinterland to address the appearance of markets and the spatial structure of exchange during the Middle Postclassic period (A.D. 1200-1350) in south-central Veracruz, Mexico. For Postclassic Mesoamerica, the collapse of the Classic period states is identified as a factor in market development. However, economic development is rarely the result of a coherent strategy either on the part of managing elites or consumers. Instead, a combination of strategies and overlapping exchange systems provide the context, rather than any one explanation, for how commercial market exchange develops. Analysis of Sauce’s households identified both the exchange mechanisms and their spatial organization. Results support market exchange of most ceramics for households, lending strong support to commoner household prominence in developing local markets. The restrictions of a few ceramics to Sauce and wealthier residences describe political and social inequalities. The analysis also identified socially important residences located away from the center, and ceramic types which had special social significance. In putting social relationships, consumption, and settlements into relational frameworks with archaeologically distinct residues, modeling the generative processes behind socioeconomic changes becomes accessible using familiar data.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Procesos Político-Económicos de la Costa del Golfo Mesoamericana

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15730