Provisioning the Household: Exploring Domestic Economic Integration within Two Lowland Maya Communities

Summary

It is now well recognized that Late Classic Maya communities varied politically, economically, and environmentally. The corollary, however, that community and household variation went hand-in-hand in the Maya area often goes unrecognized or under problematized. Research that explores differences in household provisioning practices across a range of communities should help to rectify this situation. Referencing data from two large prehispanic Maya sites in northwestern Belize, this paper asks the question, "How were households integrated into their broader communities?" Those who study sources of household variation often invoke one of two determinants: either that 1) proximity to resources or 2) relationships to leadership dictated household subsistence and crafting activities. To understand how both positions might have value and relevance with respect to the same bodies of data, this study will explore how aspects of household provisioning were correlated with different kinds of community organizations, environmental contexts, and structures of leadership.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21763