Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Household Economic Organization and Commercialization in Postclassic Highland Chiapas

Suny At Albany, Albany NY

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Marilyn A. Masson, Ms. Elizabeth Paris will investigate the participation of household producers in local, regional, and interregional trade networks at Postclassic period sites in the San Cristobal (Jovel) Valley of highland Chiapas. During the Postclassic period (A.D. 900-1500), interregional exchange networks expanded in several regions of Mesoamerica with an unprecedented increase in the volume and diversity of goods in circulation. At Moxviquil and La Hermita, two small Postclassic period hilltop sites in the Jovel Valley, amplified interregional connections may have provided agricultural and craft producers with new opportunities to gain economic wealth, if not social status, through the exchange of surplus goods. In response, elites likewise may have endeavored to restrict such opportunities, by banning, restricting, or monopolizing external exchanges, and taking advantage of tribute obligations to reap the benefits of surplus production by specialists. Excavations at elite and commoner household refuse disposal areas will identify the degree of autonomy of local producers from political control, and examine houselot variation in participation in local, regional, and interregional exchange networks. As economic networks expand within and across regions, they can have significant impacts on individual households and communities, presenting both new opportunities and challenges. This project will provide an archaeological test case for distinguishing two potential responses by these households and communities, as enacted through the exchange of household surplus production through tribute versus trade. If household products were exchanged through marketplaces, houselot assemblages would reflect greater affluence through the high volume and diversity of imported goods they obtained through trade. In contrast, if goods were transferred through the mechanism of heavy tribute, then the net effect should be a drain of wealth away from the household and traded imports should be poorly represented. Analyses will compare tools, waste materials, and facilities utilized in the production of ceramics, lithic tools, shell, cloth, animal products, amber, salt and metal items to those used and discarded through household daily activities. Ethnohistorical documents suggest that highland Chiapas was rich in natural resources such as amber, quetzal feathers, mountain lion pelts, jade, gold, salt, fish and game, and that these resources may have been important not only for subsistence and local exchange, but in long-distance trade with other areas of Mesoamerica. Through continued collaboration with the Museo Na Bolom in San Cristobal de las Casas, Ms. Paris and colleagues will make the results of the project available to both local audiences in San Cristobal, and internationally through the Museo Na Bolom and Institute of Mesoamerican Studies websites. Publications for the academic community will include a dissertation, peer-reviewed journal articles, and conference presentations. Project staff residence at the Museo Na Bolom during the field season will facilitate the creation of temporary displays during the field seasons in which visitors will be able to see recently excavated artifacts and ask questions of investigators. The project will also contribute to the professional development of graduate and undergraduate project staff through training in excavation methods and artifact analysis.