15. Economy

Question 1

Consumption and
Distribution

Answer 1

Consuming things and moving things
around
Sharing food, water, and other items
Trade and exchange between
households, buying things itinerant
peddlers, professional traders, and
marketplaces

Question 2

What is the Maya “Economy”

Answer 2

“Maya Economy” refers to the system of production, distribution, and
consumption of goods within and across Maya communities

The Maya economy can be understood by examining:

Agricultural production: The cultivation of staple crops, followed by processing and cooking were principal activities underwriting the economy.

Craft production and specialization: Production of utilitarian goods (often created by commoner households) and prestige goods (often created by specialized artisans)

Exchange: Systems of exchange (reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange) and trade, which connected communities and facilitated the movement of goods and resources

Question 3

Organization of the Economy

Answer 3

Maya economy is traditionally divided into the political economy and the domestic economy.

Question 4

Political Economy

Answer 4

hierarchically managed system of production and distribution of
prestige items for use by the royal Maya and other elites

Question 5

Domestic Economy

Answer 5

goods and resources for basic daily use by all classes of Maya society

Question 6

household economy, community economy, and the vertical economy

Answer 6

Household economy: household level production and exchange

Community economy: part-time surplus household craft production for exchange within the community for other household produced surplus items

Vertical economy: exchange of household surplus for long-distance or exotic items

Question 7

Household Economy: Subsistence

Answer 7

House is the “basic unit of production”

Most production focused on subsistence
activities and craft production to meet
immediate household needs:

Agriculture, processing, cooking
Building and maintaining the house
Basic toolkits for daily life

Question 8

Chipped-stone tool production

Answer 8

Most daily tools made from chert (sedimentary rock) , when
available locally

Chert cobbles roughly shaped, then
undergo flaking in a gradual
reduction process that eventually
results in a tool

Tools may be formal (common) or
informal (most common)

Note** Formal tools are tools that have a standardized, well-defined shape and are deliberately made for a specific purpose

Informal tools are tools that are less standardized in shape and are often less deliberately made. They may be naturally occurring objects that are used without much modification, or they may be roughly shaped or shaped only to the extent needed to serve a particular function.*****

flaking results in lithic debitage from different stages of the reduction
process. Lithic debitage found at most Maya residential groups

Note** Lithic debitage refers to the waste material or by-products created when ancient people flaked or stone-knapped rocks to make tools. When early humans or prehistoric cultures used stones like flint, chert, or obsidian to create sharp-edged tools (like knives, scrapers, or arrowheads), they would strike the stone to remove flakes. These removed flakes are called debitage.

Question 9

Perishable goods

Answer 9

Perishable goods are very rarely
represented in the material record: cotton
cloth, clothing, wooden objects, string and
rope, etc

Historic and ethnographic accounts
indicate perishable good production was
widespread

Material evidence for perishable good
production from various data sources:
Tool assemblages
Stone tool use-wear
Sediment geochemistry

Question 10

Community Economy:
Household Craft Production

Answer 10

Most households participated in part-
time, small-scale, “intermittent
crafting”
(Intermittent crafting = production
occurs periodically)

Items exchanged at community level
through reciprocity, gifting, and
market exchange

Question 11

Household crafting: Multi Crafting

Answer 11

Multi-crafting = production involves
multiple types of goods, i.e., not
specialized
Often objects of same material class

Question 12

Community Economy:
Household Craft Specialization

Answer 12

increasing demand for some
products leads to craft
specialization.

Production may be full-time, often
in workshop settings:

Many different products:
Stone tools (chipped stone and
groundstone), Ceramics
Salt

Question 13

Groundstone Tools

Answer 13

Multiple steps:
Quarry blanks from outcrop of suitable material
Initial reduction at location of the source
Transport preforms to household workshop
Percussion flake the preform into desired shape, and
then flake and grind until product is finishe

Question 14

Tzib Group, or “Mano Mound” at Pacbitun

Answer 14

Example of a groundstone tool workshop:
located on
northern edge of the Maya Mountains (granite
source)

78 granite manos and 67 granite metates
1,500 kg of granite debitage

Question 15

Utilitarian Pottery production

Answer 15

Utilitarian pottery is among the most
common artifact found by
archaeologists in the Maya world

Little direct evidence for lowland
Maya ceramic production

Very few kilns identified, and most
potters used open firing methods,
which are difficult to identify
archaeologically

Pottery production tools have been
identified matching those used
ethnographically (in a way that relates to the scientific description of a group or society’s culture)

Question 16

Salt

Answer 16

Seasonal salt kitchens found in coastal
areas, especially off the Caribbean
coast of Belize and northwestern Gulf
Coast of Yucatan

Caribbean “salt kitchens” use brine
boiling method

Question 17

brine boiling method

Answer 17

Salt water is collected in large jars,
bowls, and basins and boiled over open
fires
Evaporation creates salt cakes
Salt cakes are then traded locally and
over long-distances

Question 18

Vertical Economy

Answer 18

Households obtained goods from distant
regions, such as obsidian, jade axes, and
certain types of polychrome (painted) vessels.

These items were acquired by trading surplus
resources, integrating households into wider
trade networks

Question 19

Elite Control of Vertical Economy

Answer 19

Elites had a degree of control over these
items in various ways:

Trade: managing or sponsoring trade

Production: overseeing or restricting who
could produce certain items

Distribution: controlling who had access to
exotic items and where they were available

Consumption: reserving certain items for elite
use or ceremonial purposes

Question 20

Political Economy: elites

Answer 20

Political economy focuses on unequal
relationships between elites and commoners
in complex societies ( Emphasis is on hierarchies, centralization of
authority, and economic control by elite)

Elites utilize specialization and restricted
exchange of specific types of items to
increase power and differentiate themselves
from commoners

Question 21

Elite Pottery
Production

Answer 21

Attached specialists produced the most
intricate polychrome pottery

Had access to finest materials, such as
particular clays or pigments, sometimes
imported from distant regions

Required high-levels of skill, including slip
application, multistage firing, and intricate
painting

Often required artist to be literate and hold
special cultural knowledge of mythology, elite
symbolism, and iconography

Some are even ‘signed’ by the artist

Question 22

use of elite pottery

Answer 22

True “elite polychromes” are gifted by rulers
to specific individuals (not widely exchanged)
or used as funerary offerings

Question 23

Types of polychrome pottery

Answer 23

elite (produced by specialists in royal court - not distributed)
common (Produced at scale and exchanged at markets)

Question 24

Long-distance trade and
development of Maya economies

Answer 24

Trade routes developed to furnish Lowland elites with
Highland resources (e.g., obsidian and jade)

Question 25

Great Western Trade Routes

Answer 25

Tikal elites controlled “Great Western Trade Route” in
the Early Classic
Obsidian imported as polyhedral cores and jade as raw
material. Transformed these materials into commodities, and
traded them elsewhere, making Tikal wealthy and
powerful

Tikal loses control after defeat by Kaanul and Caracol
in 562 CE

Jade then imported to lowlands as nearly finished objects
Obsidian production is more widespread

Terminal Classic competition for control and warfare
saw a collapse of the “Great Western Trade Route”,
and a shift to the eastern Caribbean Trade route

Question 26

Jade

Answer 26

Multiple stages of production, involving
all social classes

Late Classic commoner households at
Cancuen, Guatemala created preforms
from jade boulders and cobbles

Some basic items (axes, beads) are crafted
and traded

Some preforms are exported to recipient
sites where they are then carved and
incised by artisans, increasing symbolic
and real value

Some carved and incised jade objects
become property of elites while others
enter into exchange systems

Question 27

Obsidian

Answer 27

Early Classic: final production and
distribution controlled by Tikal in the
Early Classic and thus important to
their political economy

Late Classic: less important to political
economies (less control over
production and distribution)

Question 28

Financing the State

Answer 28

Elites financed their institutions through two primary mechanisms that operated simultaneously:

Staple finance: obligatory payment of subsistence goods to the state
Wealth finance: special items are used as payment

Both staple and wealth finance were furnished through taxes and tribute payments:
Taxes: regular, expected contributions from local populations to support the state. Most often subsistence goods but also included labour (corvée labour tax).

Tribute: payment from subordinate or allied groups to acknowledge subordination. Could include subsistence goods but most often involving more prestigious or symbolic items

Question 29

Modes of Exchange

Answer 29

Reciprocity: Exchange based on
mutual obligations; reinforced social
bonds within communities

Redistribution: Central authority
collects and reallocates goods, often
during ritual ceremonies;
demonstrates elite power

Market exchange: Goods traded in
designated marketplaces; “price” set
by perceived value, rather than social
relationships alone

Question 30

Market Exchange Only Recently Accepted why

Answer 30

Idea that the Maya had market exchange has
only recently been accepted and remains hotly
debated

Karl Polanyi’s theory of exchange: marketing
behaviors are incompatible with premodern
societies rooted in kinship and social solidarity.

Maya also thought to have resource
redundancy (low biodiversity) and low
populations, thus never developed market
exchange.

Question 31

Market Exchange: Approaches

Answer 31

The Maya did have marketplaces.
Identifying and understanding how
markets emerged and functioned are
important topics in Maya archaeology
today.

Archaeological identification of Maya
market exchange hinges on three key
approaches:

Contextual approach
Configurational approach
Distributional approach

Question 32

Contextual Approach

Answer 32

The contextual approach focuses on the
identification of features (large cities, craft
specialists) that benefit from the efficiency of
marketplace exchange

Contextual indicators for Maya markets:
Large, densely populated cities Sprawling, interconnected, settlement
systems. In these systems, people are not entirely self-sufficient and redistribution unlikely

Question 33

Configurational Approach

Answer 33

The configurational approach prioritizes
architectural features, spatial layout, and location.

Configurational indicators for Maya markets:

Most markets occur in formal plazas

Spaces are that flat, can hold large groups of
people, and are easily accessible (close to sacbes
or within residential districts or neighborhoods)

Some markets have formal architecture

Question 34

Distributional Approach

Answer 34

The distributional approach examines the
distribution of goods at the level of the site
and the region

Distributional indicators for Maya markets:

Even distribution of sold goods across
communities, with differences
pertaining to purchasing power

(E.g., everyone has access to “simple”
polychromes and obsidian with wealthier
households having access to greater
quantities)

Question 35

Central Markets

Answer 35

Central markets identified at many
Maya cities, likely sponsored by royal
elites
Range in complexity from open plazas
to formal architecture
Degree of formality may indicate
frequence or scale of operation

More formal: Chiik Nahb at Calakmul

Question 36

Neighborhood marketplaces

Answer 36

Markets also developed in
residential districts and
neighborhoods

Some have formal architecture,
suggesting daily operation

Example: Yaxnohcah’s
neighborhood marketplaces

Question 37

Currency

Answer 37

Currency = a particular type of object
that is commonly accepted as a
medium of exchange and unit of
account within a particular cultural
contex

In Postclassic Mesoamerica, known
currencies included cacao beans,
copper bells, salt, miniature axes,
cotton mantles, jade and shell beads,
other shell items (Essentially, items with known values can be traded for other items with perceived or agreed-upon values)