The Marketplace Next Door: Socioeconomics at Ximbal Che’, an Intermediate-Elite Maya Household at Yaxnohcah (Campeche, Mexico)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper presents new data from excavations at Ximbal Che’, an intermediate-elite residential group at the ancient Maya city of Yaxnohcah, located in southern Campeche, Mexico. Households have for decades been recognized as important loci for production, consumption, and social reproduction in ancient Maya societies. In recent years, studies of intermediate-elite households have documented a surprisingly diverse array of social, political, and economic strategies that have enhanced our understanding of urban social organization. Here we present preliminary results of one such study, designed to understand the relationship between Ximbal Che’ and the Sakjol neighbourhood marketplace, which is adjacent to this residential group. To date, excavations at Ximbal Che’ reveal a history of construction and occupation spanning the Late Preclassic (400–200 BC) through to the Late Classic (AD 650–850) and recovered artifact assemblages have supplied a glimpse into the daily life of this household. We consider these lines of evidence to evaluate how the socioeconomic activities and practices undertaken by Ximbal Che’ changed throughout its history and consider the role this household may have played in the organization and operation of the next-door Classic period Sakjol marketplace.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36785.0