Ahead of its time?
Classic Maya sites in the lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula are generally known for their monumental art and architecture in central sacrosanct spaces, and their political economies are believed to have been highly centralized. The predominantly Early Classic site of Chunchucmil, however, does not fit this stereotype. Moreover, even though its urban population ranks among the largest and most densely packed in any Maya site, it inhabits one of the most depauperate agricultural landscapes. These idiosyncrasies have stimulated a great deal of archaeological research, all of which lead to the conclusion that Chunchucmil had a surprisingly commercialized economy. In addition to importing basic necessities, some of which were exchanged in a large central marketplace, its basic economy was built on servicing merchants along the most active Mesoamerican maritime trade route and funneling long distance trade items to sites in the interior of the peninsula. This article summarizes the data leading to the conclusion that Chunchucmil’s economic complexity rivaled that of the secondary states of the Postclassic Period and therefore was way ahead of its time. It also questions whether the kind of bottom-up approach applied here might reveal more complex economies at other Classic Maya sites than the more ardent advocates of the prevailing, monolithic ‘political economy’ paradigm have thus far been able to concede. In which case, it was perhaps only slightly ahead of its time.
An argument for Classic era Maya market exchange
Abstract This paper argues for the importance of complex market exchange in the Maya area prior to the so-called Postclassic “mercantile” period. We suggest that market exchange was foundational to the stability of Classic era polities, and by extension, that it was of key strategic interest to dynasts and their retinues. We reject some of the prevailing dualistic views that the economic activities of royal courts or noble houses were disconnected from the vast majority of production and exchange activities deemed essential for the daily life of supporting populations with the sole exception of tribute payments. Alternatively, we postulate the accessibility and interchangeability of most products through market place commerce, as is well-documented for the Postclassic Period. Correlates of well developed market exchange that are tracked in our analysis include occupational specialization, surplus production, household and community interdependency, and ease of access to valuable goods. We compare these patterns across elite and commoner contexts at Classic Period Tikal to those of Postclassic Period Mayapan. The assemblages at Mayapan provide comparative indices from a city known historically to have had an important regional market exchange system. Similar patterns at Tikal strongly suggest time depth for market exchange, as well as a more complex market system than the solar central place (administered) model that has been most often invoked to characterize Classic Maya market organization.
A Heterarchical Approach to Lowland Maya Socioeconomies
Study of Maya economy has traditionally been dominated by hierarchical or vertical models, in which societal elites were thought to have had significant impact in the organization of production and exchange. We propose that evidence for strong elite regulation of lowland economy is lacking. Both inter-site and intra-site patterns better support the likelihood that many aspects of lowland economy were probably self-organized and not regulated by a centralized controlling group or groups. It is proposed that the spatial structure of important lowland resources played a significant role in Maya socioeconomic systems. While at one time tropical forests were viewed as homogenous and spatially redundant, more recent perspectives emphasize local mosaic or patchy zonation of important biotic and abiotic resources. Intensive craft production and non-centralized regional exchange of large quantities of economic goods were elements within a self-organizing system influenced more by resource structure than hierarchical elite regulation. In our view, the concept of heterarchy represents a better way of understanding Maya economy, as it avoids the a priori assumption that complexity must take a tiered hierarchical form. Throughout this chapter, the heterarchical perspective is used to view the character of lowland Maya centers, the hubs of elite control, from an economic standpoint.