Economic Integration of Rural Regions

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This project investigates trade and economic behavior of prehistoric rural people living far from large central sites. Multiple theories exist regarding potential broader scale relations. The focus is on one such region. The project will study excavated archaeological goods such as pottery, stone tools, shell artifacts, and jade to determine whether elite trade networks, merchants, or community markets structured the local economy. The project results can be compared to other rural areas to study similar economies far from towns, in other regions of the world. Project members will collaborate with local inhabitants, train future researchers, and use the research findings in classes and public presentations. Students of different backgrounds will participate in the project which will lead to BA, MA, and PhD degrees. The project examines the late prehistoric period. The research will help to understand the diverse and complex economic structures of peripheries. These areas were likely more than just resource extraction zones and unspecialized rural regions as portrayed in the literature. Prior research indicates that some regions had market exchange of exotics or, conversely, elites managed the acquisition and distribution of trade goods. Hypotheses regarding the roles of elites in the trade economy or community-managed markets in the peripheral economy will be examined by excavations in several households of different socioeconomic status. Researchers will determine if different trade goods, such as obsidian, ceramics shell, and jade from other regions, were restricted to elites in a trade economy based on alliance building through prestige good exchange, or if the various trade items found across different households indicate a community-based market system. 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.