The Contributions of Belize Archaeology to Our Understanding of Ancient Maya Economies

Summary

This is an abstract from the "“The Center and the Edge”: How the Archaeology of Belize Is Foundational for Understanding the Ancient Maya" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeologists working in Belize have made signal contributions to our knowledge of Maya economies and their relationships to political processes and dynamics. In this paper, we examine the ways that archaeological research at Maya sites in Belize has advanced our understanding of these topics; (1) centralized marketplaces as key nodes for exchange and distribution of goods and their roles in Classic Maya society; (2) the organization of specialized production of key goods (including salt, chert tools, obsidian tools, shell beads, and granite manos and metates) and the ways those goods were exchanged more widely; (3) agricultural intensification; and (4) the heterogeneity of ancient Maya economies on a regional scale. We also discuss the contributions of Belizean archaeology to broader debates about the relationships between economy, society, and polity, including (1) the household as a key locus of economic production and consumption; (2) the role of small communities in self-organizing processes of regional economic integration; and (3) the relationship between consumption and social constructs of identity, desire, and status. In all of these areas, archaeologists working in Belize have led the way. We close by discussing how current research in Belize continues to set the agenda for understanding Maya economies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• “The Center and the Edge”: How the Archaeology of Belize Is Foundational for Understanding the Ancient Maya   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38299.0