Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Manufacturing in a Traditional Society

Trustees Of Boston University, Boston

Investigators

Abstract

Under the direction of David M. Carballo, Mary Clarke of Boston University will undertake research to study the socioeconomic relationships that comprised ancient Maya economies, focusing specifically on labor relations and artisanal production. Previous scholarship on ancient economies has focused on a number of variables, including the organization of production, the level of commercialization, and the organization of marketplaces and marketplace exchange. While some contexts suggest that the work of producers was directly supported by consumers (they may have provided materials, subsistence goods, and, in some cases, housing for producers), others illustrate that producers worked independently and could directly profit from the commercial exchange or sale of the goods they produced. Commercial activities, however, can still be managed by representatives of the state: the price of goods can be fixed, entrepreneurial activities can be encouraged or prohibited, and financial institutions may control the means of and opportunities for exchange. The evaluation of commercialization in ancient societies requires knowledge of political organization and its strategies, which are reflected in the material records of marketplace exchange, such as marketplaces, household assemblages, and workshops. Archaeology is particularly well placed to provide relevant insight because it can evaluate the material evidence within these locations, which can then be compared across a community, a site, a region as a means of reconstructing ancient economies and economic transactions. Because this research will be conducted by MS Clarke as part of her doctoral dissertation research it will serve a valuable educational function. Ms. Clarke will evaluate the ancient Maya economy through an investigation of limestone workshops and producer households. Limestone is a ubiquitous material in Mesoamerica that was used by the ancient Maya for a myriad of purposes, including the construction of monumental art and architecture. Stelae, altars, lintels, and temple stairways made of cut and carved limestone were inscribed with narratives documenting real and mythological events, as well as with depictions of key ritual performances and supernatural beings. At the site of Xultun, Guatemala, a stone production district was found where domestic architecture is integrated with quarry workshops wherein incomplete monuments were found still attached to the limestone bedrock. The limestone producers in this district were specifically producing materials for monumental state expressions, implying a single consumer, the state. Using this district as a case study, this project will assess multiple working hypotheses to address one broader question: how was limestone production organized, both socially and economically, at Xultun, and what does this tell us about labor and power in early societies? Through the analysis of chipped, ground, and pecked stone from Xultun, this project will establish the distribution and nucleation of limestone production work across the site. Moving from social to economic organization, this project will evaluate the systems of exchange visible in household consumption patterns to determine the commercialization of limestone and the extent of state involvement in its production and distribution. Results will be contextualized within the broader, multi-scalar frames of non-renewable resource management, commercialization and local exchange systems, and the production and projection of state identity in ancient society. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.