Embedded Ancient Maya Economies

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ancient Maya Embedded Economies" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Ancient economies are intertwined with aspects of the daily life of individuals in both market and premarket economies. To more fully understand these relationships, we must explore the ways in which economic actions are embedded and entangled within social, political, and religious practices. We briefly discuss the history of the term and how we utilize it despite a history of much debate within the sphere of economic anthropology. Discussion on the organization of ancient Maya economies has been a subject of much debate in part due to this history. With more recent finds of market exchange and more complex studies of economies it is a good time to reassess the ways in which economies are embedded throughout Maya society. We provide an example of this through a brief discussion of the exchange of bifaces among the Classic period Maya in western Belize.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ancient Maya Embedded Economies   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32404