Made in a Marketplace: A Comparison of Stone Tools Crafted from Local and Non-Local Raw Materials in Classic Maya Marketplaces of the Mopan River Valley, Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Where Is Provenance? Bridging Method, Evidence, and Theory for the Interpretation of Local Production" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Is a stone tool crafted from a raw material found naturally occurring only outside the geographic zone and political control of a settlement, but made in the site’s central marketplace, a non-local or local good? In this paper, I present examples of such a situation at two Classic Maya marketplaces located in the Mopan River Valley, Belize, where stone tools, made from locally available chert and limestone, and non-local obsidian were produced and exchanged side-by-side. I suggest that, multiple factors, including equitable access to an exchange good through a marketplace, the frequency of consumption, the type of raw material, and the residential history of the producer-vendor and consumer, can influence perceptions of what is a local or non-local good.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Where Is Provenance? Bridging Method, Evidence, and Theory for the Interpretation of Local Production   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24330