Exploring the Economic Sphere of Prestige Items through the Lens of Ancient Maya Greenstone Mosaic Masks (300–750 CE)

Summary

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

With the aim of exploring the economic system surrounding prestige Maya items during precolumbian times, we present research focused on greenstone mosaic masks (GMM) found in funerary precincts of high elite individuals in the Guatemalan Maya Lowlands. Through microarchaeological analyses of a select number of tesserae (n = 249) that form sections of 13 GMM, which comprise around 27% of the GMM reported to date in the Maya area (n = ~49), we identified that these were manufactured using standardized processes as reflected by the utilization of similar raw material of the tools. The scarce evidence compiled to date regarding the location of potential precincts where greenstone tesserae could have been manufactured point to a possible centralized production area. Some tesserae show evidence of having been repaired and reused from previous jewels. We thus believe these tesserae were extracted from treasures (i.e., heirlooms) instead of commodities. Considering that 67% of the GMM (n = 33) were found in four sites of the Maya Lowlands, it seems their use and perhaps their distribution were exclusive. The latter suggests that GMM could have been insignias of affiliation linked to a powerful regime during the Late Classic period (550–800 CE) if not before.

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): 32592