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CRAFT PRODUCTION IN A CENTRAL MEXICAN MARKETPLACE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2009

Kenneth Hirth
Kenneth Hirth*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, 409 Carpenter Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA
*
E-mail correspondence to: kgh2@psu.edu
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Abstract

The marketplace was an important institution for household provisioning and elite resource conversion in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. Despite their importance, marketplaces are difficult to identify because exchange relationships are generally invisible in the archaeological record. This study examines the evidence for marketplaces at the Epiclassic period site of Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico. It explores the role of craft production in the marketplace as a possible indicator of market activity. Excavations in a suspected market area at Xochicalco uncovered evidence for the production of obsidian prismatic blades on the floor of a public plaza. The results of these explorations are discussed and it is concluded that craft production can be a useful indicator for market activity if production debitage is found in primary contexts in public plazas.

Type
Special Section: New Directions in the Study of Mesoamerican Lithic Economy
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , Spring 2009 , pp. 89 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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