No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Beyond house size: Alternative estimates of wealth inequality in the ancient Maya Lowlands
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2024
Abstract
House size provides a comparative measure of household wealth that enables archaeologists to track global trends in inequality across a range of sedentary societies. Such approaches hold particular promise for Maya archaeology given its long history of settlement pattern research and recent applications of LiDAR to map large areas surrounding ancient Maya cities. Estimating dwelling size, however, is not a trivial exercise. This article addresses potential confounds associated with geometric-based estimates (volume and area) and compares traditional house size-based measures of wealth with other estimates of house size and quality of life indicators. Settlement pattern data from the Upper Usumacinta Confluence Zone, recently collected by the Proyecto Arqueológico Altar de Sacrificios, combined with previously published excavation data provide a robust dataset to evaluate alternative measures of wealth beyond house size.
Resumen
El tamaño del hogar proporciona una medida de riqueza conveniente y comparativa de su riqueza que permite que los arqueólogos sigan tendencias en desigualdad a través de un rango de sociedades sedentarias. Tales enfoques son particularmente prometedores para la arqueología maya dada su larga historia de investigaciones en los patrones de asentamiento y recientes estudios de LiDAR para mapear grandes áreas alrededor de ciudades antiguas. Estimar el tamaño del hogar, sin embargo, no es trabajo sencillo. Este artículo discute sobre posibles variables de confusión asociadas a estimaciones de riqueza, basándonos en medidas geométricas (volumen y área) y compara medidas tradicionales de riqueza (con base en la geometría) con otras estimaciones del tamaño de casa e indicadores de la cualidad de la vida. Datos del patrón de asentamientos de la Zona de Confluencias del Usumacinta Superior recientemente recolectadas por el Proyecto Arqueológico Altar de Sacrificios, combinados con datos previamente excavados, proporcionan un conjunto robusto de datos para evaluar medidas alternas de riqueza más allá que el tamaño del hogar.
- Type
- Compact Section: Ancient Maya Inequality
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press
References
Abbott, David R., Craig, Douglas B., Zanotto, Hannah, Judd, Veronica X., and Kober, Brent 2021 Measuring Hohokam Household Inequality with Construction Costs of Domestic Architecture at Pueblo Grande. American Antiquity 86(2):368–394. doi:10.1017/aaq.2020.101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abrams, Elliot M. 1994 How the Maya Built their World: Energetics and Ancient Architecture. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Adams, Richard E.W. 1971 Ceramics of Altar de Sacrificios, Guatemala. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology 63(1). Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Betzenhauser, Alleen 2018 Exploring Measures of Inequality in the Mississippian Heartland. In Ten Thousand Years of Inequality: The Archaeology of Wealth Differences, edited by Kohler, Timothy A. and Smith, Michael E., pp. 180–200. Amerind Studies in Anthropology. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis 1981 Behavioral Archaeology and the “Pompeii Premise.” Journal of Anthropological Research 37:195–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogaard, Amy, Styring, Amy, Whitlam, Jade, Fochesato, Mattia, and Bowles, Samuel 2018 Farming, Inequality, and Urbanization: A Comparative Analysis of Late Prehistoric Northern Mesopotamia and Southwestern Germany. In Ten Thousand Years of Inequality: The Archaeology of Wealth Differences, edited by Kohler, Timothy A. and Smith, Michael E., pp. 201–229. Amerind Studies in Anthropology. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Canuto, Marcello A., Auld-Thomas, Luke, Yagi, Hiroaki, and Tomás Barrientos, Q. 2023 Gini Coefficient at La Corona: The Impacts of Variation in Analytical Unit and Aggregation Scale. Ancient Mesoamerica. doi:10.1017/S0956536123000111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chase, Adrian S.Z. 2017 Residential Inequality among the Ancient Maya: Operationalizing Household Architectural Volume at Caracol, Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 14:31–39.Google Scholar
Chase, Adrian S.Z., Thompson, Amy E., Walden, John P., and Feinman, Gary M. 2023 Understanding and Calculating Household Size, Wealth, and Inequality in the Maya Lowlands. Ancient Mesoamerica. doi:10.1017/S095653612300024X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellyson, Laura J., Kohler, Timothy A., and Cameron, Catherine M. 2019 How Far from Chaco to Orayvi? Quantifying Inequality among Pueblo Households. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 55:101073. doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2019.101073.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinman, Gary M., and Carballo, David M. 2018 Collaborative and Competitive Strategies in the Variability and Resiliency of Large-Scale Societies in Mesoamerica. Economic Anthropology 5(1):7–19. doi:10.1002/sea2.12098.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinman, Gary M., Faulseit, Ronald K., and Nicholas, Linda M. 2018 Assessing Wealth Inequality in the Pre-Hispanic Valley of Oaxaca: Comparative Implications. In Ten Thousand Years of Inequality: The Archaeology of Wealth Differences, edited by Kohler, Timothy A. and Smith, Michael E., pp. 262–288. Amerind Studies in Anthropology. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Haviland, William A. 1981 Dower Houses and Minor Centers at Tikal, Guatemala: An Investigation into the Identification of Valid Units in Settlement Hierarchies. In Lowland Maya Settlement Patterns, edited by Ashmore, Wendy, pp. 89–117. School of American Research, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Hutson, Scott R., Stanton, Travis W., and Ardren, Traci 2023 Inequality, Urbanism, and Governance at Coba and the Northern Maya Lowlands. Ancient Mesoamerica. doi:10.1017/S0956536123000032.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohler, Timothy A., and Higgins, Rebecca 2016 Quantifying Household Inequality in Early Pueblo Villages. Current Anthropology 57(5):690–697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohler, Timothy A., and Smith, Michael E. (editors) 2018 Ten Thousand Years of Inequality: The Archaeology of Wealth Differences. Amerind Studies in Anthropology. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohler, Timothy A., and Thompson, Amy E. 2022 The Global Dynamics of Inequality Project (GINI): A Progress Report on a New Model for Collaboration. SAA Archaeological Record 22(3):19–23.Google Scholar
Kohler, Timothy A., Smith, Michael E., Bogaard, Amy, Feinman, Gary M., Peterson, Christian E., Betzenhauser, Alleen, Pailes, Matthew, Stone, Elizabeth C., Prentiss, Anna Marie, Dennehy, Timothy J., Ellyson, Laura J., Nicholas, Linda M., Faulseit, Ronald K., Styring, Amy, Whitlam, Jade, Fochesato, Mattia, Foor, Thomas A., and Bowles, Samuel 2017 Greater Post-Neolithic Wealth Disparities in Eurasia than in North America and Mesoamerica. Nature 551(7682):619–622. doi:10.1038/nature24646.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McAnany, Patricia A., and Hodder, Ian 2009 Thinking about Stratigraphic Sequence in Social Terms. Archaeological Dialogues 16(1):1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mejía Ramón, Andrés G. 2017 La prospección y teledetección, vuelo con vehículo no tripulado. In Proyecto Altar de Sacrificios, Temporada 2017, pp. 13–36. Informe entregado a la Dirección General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural. Instituto de Arqueología e Historia, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Mejía Ramón, Andrés G. 2018 La teledetección y prospección topográfica y multiespectral en Altar de Sacrificios. In Proyecto Altar de Sacrificios: Tercera Temporada, 2018, pp. 4–34. Informe entregado a la Dirección General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural. Instituto de Arqueología e Historia, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Mejía Ramón, Andrés G. 2019 La prospección fotogramétrica fluvia y aérea. In Proyecto Geomorfológico de Asentamientos Antiguos del Usumacinta Superior, La Temporada 2019: Investigando la historia fluvial y los patrones de asentamiento de Altar de Sacrificios y sus alrededores, pp. 12–35. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Munson, Jessica 2015 From Metaphors to Practice: Operationalizing Network Concepts for Archaeological Stratigraphy. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 22(2):428–460. doi:10.1007/s10816-013-9181-8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munson, Jessica, and Paiz Aragon, Lorena 2020 Informe del Proyecto Geomorfológico de Asentamientos Antiguos del Usumacinta Superior, La Temporada de 2019: Investigando la historia fluvial y los patrones de asentamiento de Altar de Sacrificios y sus alrededores. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Munson, Jessica, and Scholnick, Jonathan 2022 Wealth and Well-Being in an Ancient Maya Community. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 29(1):1–30. doi:10.1007/s10816-021-09508-8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munson, Jessica, Mejía Ramón, Andrés G., and Aragon, Lorena Paiz 2019 Mapeo de asentamientos en alta resolución con sistemas aéreos no tripulados en Altar de Sacrificios, Guatemala. In XXXII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, Vol. II, edited by Arroyo, Bárbara, Salinas, Luis Méndez, and Álvarez, Gloria Ajú, pp. 637–648. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Pailes, Matthew C. 2018 Steady Inequality in Changing Times: An Examination of Regional Patterns in Hohokam Structure Data. In Ten Thousand Years of Inequality: The Archaeology of Wealth Differences, edited by Kohler, Timothy A. and Smith, Michael E., pp. 155–179. Amerind Studies in Anthropology. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Paiz Aragon, Lorena, and Munson, Jessica 2017 Proyecto Altar de Sacrificios, Temporada 2017. Informe entregado a la Dirección General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural. Instituto de Arqueología e Historia, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Paiz Aragon, Lorena, and Munson, Jessica 2018 Proyecto Altar de Sacrificios: Tercera Temporada, 2018. Informe entregado a la Dirección General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural. Instituto de Arqueología e Historia, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Peterson, Christian E., and Drennan, Robert D. 2018 Letting the Gini Out of the Bottle: Measuring Inequality Archaeologically. In Ten Thousand Years of Inequality: The Archaeology of Wealth Differences, edited by Kohler, Timothy A. and Smith, Michael E., pp. 39–66. Amerind Studies in Anthropology. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Prentiss, Anna Marie, Foor, Thomas A., and Murphy, Mary-Margaret 2018 Testing Hypotheses About Emergent Inequality (Using Gini Coefficients) in a Complex Fisher-Forager Society at the Bridge River Site, British Columbia. In Ten Thousand Years of Inequality: The Archaeology of Wealth Differences, edited by Kohler, Timothy A. and Smith, Michael E., pp. 96–129. Amerind Studies in Anthropology. University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Rathje, William L. 1983 To the Salt of the Earth: Some Comments on Household Archaeology among the Maya. In Prehistoric Settlement Patterns: Essays in Honor of Gordon R. Willey, edited by Vogt, Evon Z. and Leventhal, Richard M., pp. 23–34. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Richards-Rissetto, Heather 2023 Exploring Inequality at Copan, Honduras: A 2D and 3D Geospatial Comparison of Household Wealth. Ancient Mesoamerica. doi:10.1017/S0956536123000147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. Ledyard 1972 Excavations at Altar de Sacrificios: Architecture, Settlement, Burials, and Caches. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology 62(2). Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E. 1987 Household Possessions and Wealth in Agrarian States: Implications for Archaeology. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 6:297–335. doi:10.1016/0278-4165(87)90004-3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Amy E., Feinman, Gary M., and Prufer, Keith M. 2021 Assessing Classic Maya Multi-Scalar Household Inequality in Southern Belize, edited by Jacob Freeman. PLOS ONE 16(3):e0248169. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0248169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walden, John P., Hoggarth, Julie A., Ebert, Claire E., Shaw-Müller, Kyle, Weiyu, Ran, Yijia, Qiu, Ellis, Olivia P., Meyer, Brett, Biggie, Michael, Watkins, Tia B., Guerra, Rafael A., and Awe, Jaime J. 2023 Patterns of Residential Differentiation and Labor Control at Baking Pot and Lower Dover in the Belize River Valley. Ancient Mesoamerica. doi:10.1017/S095653612300007X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar