Selective Surplus: Material Networks in Formation at Yaxuná, Yucatan, Mexico (900 to 350 BCE)

Summary

Recent investigations of Yaxuná, Yucatan, Mexico have provided evidence to suggest that the earliest permanent spaces, by way of the site’s E-group complex, in the Northern Lowlands were roughly contemporaneous with the early developments observed at Central Lowland sites. On the one hand, this data provides an outlet to better explore the large scale social processes impacting the early macro-region of the Maya area. However, material analysis of recovered shell, lithic, and ceramic artifacts assisted by stratigraphic context has revealed that many of the regional characteristics of later periods, such as shared religious practices, systems of material value, and networks of exchange were much more distinct at the local level than anticipated in the earliest investigated contexts. As a result, the data make it clear that as time progressed from 900 to 350 BC, while Yaxuná underwent urbanizing processes, the presence of material objects increased while the selection of those materials gradually became focused on more fixed sources. In the same way, the previously recognized diversity of material objects became increasingly limited. This paper will focus on the implications of the Yaxuná data for the development of systems of value and exchange in early Maya society.

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): 22194