Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-03T22:04:32.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Economy of Ancient Matacapan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Robert S. Santley
Robert S. Santley
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 1979 I initiated a program of archaeological fieldwork in the Tuxtlas Mountains in southern Veracruz, Mexico. One of the working hypotheses guiding this research was that Matacapan, the principal archaeological site in the area, headed a political economy dominated by persons from the great central Mexican center of Teotihuacan. In this paper I present evidence characterizing the economy that Matacapan dominated during the Classic period. My conclusion is that there was significant variation in system organization through time. Findings from the Tuxtlas indicate that the Early Classic regional system was small scale and organized most likely as a bounded hierarchical economy. In contrast, a dendritic political economy developed in Middle Classic times, in which the production of ceramics and/or their contents for distribution beyond the local region was emphasized. The Late Classic system was smaller scale, with most production destined for local clienteles, but apparently it was more commercialized, resembling an interlocking central-place system in several respects.

Type
Special Section: Southern Veracruz Archaeology
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , Fall 1994 , pp. 243 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adams, R.E.W., and Smith, Woodruff D. 1981 Feudal Models for Classic Maya Civilization. In Lowland Maya Settlement Patterns, edited by Ashmore, Wendy, pp. 335–349. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Andrews, Anthony P. 1983 Maya Salt Production and Trade. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Appleby, Gordon 1976 Export Monoculture and Regional Social Structure in Puno, Peru. In Social Systems, edited by Smith, Carol A., pp. 291–307. Regional Analysis, vol. 2. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Arnold, Philip J. III 1991 Domestic Ceramic Production and Spatial Organization: A Mexican Case Study in Ethnoarchaeology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, Philip J. III, Pool, Christopher A., Kneebone, Ronald R., and Santley, Robert S. 1993 Intensive Ceramic Production and Classic Period Political Economy in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 4:175–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, Philip J. III, and Santley, Robert S. 1993 Household Ceramics Production at Middle Classic Period Matacapan. In Prehispanic Domestic Units in Western Mesoamerica: Studies of the Household, Compound, and Residence, edited by Santley, Robert S. and Hirth, Kenneth G., pp. 227–248. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.Google Scholar
Beckman, M.J. 1958 City Hierarchies and the Distribution of City Size. Economic Development and Cultural Change 6:243–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berdan, Frances 1982 The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York.Google Scholar
Berry, Brian J.L. 1961 City Size Distributions and Economic Development. Economic Development and Culture Change 9:573–588.Google Scholar
Berry, Brian J.L. 1967 Geography of Market Centers and Retail Distribution. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.Google Scholar
Blanton, Richard E. 1978 Monte Alban: Settlement Patterns at the Ancient Zapotee Capital. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Blanton, Richard E., Kowalewski, Stephen A., Feinman, Gary, and Appel, Jill 1981 Ancient Mesoamerica: A Comparison of Change in Three Regions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Blom, Franz, and LaFarge, Oliver 1926–1927 Tribes and Temples: A Record of the Expedition to Middle America Conducted by the Tulane University of Louisiana in 1925. 2 vols. Publication No. 1. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Bromley, Raymond J. 1976. Contemporary Market Periodicity in Highland Ecuador. In Economic Systems, edited by Smith, Carol A., pp. 91–122. Regional Analysis, vol. 1. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Byrne, Roger, and Horne, Sally P. 1989 Prehistoric Agriculture and Forest Clearance in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico. Palynology 13:181–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christaller, Walter 1966 Central Places in Southern Germany. Prentice-Hall, Engelwood Cliffs, NJ.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D. 1966 The Maya. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D., and Diehl, Richard A. 1980 The Archaeology of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan. In the Land of the Olmec, vol. 1. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Combes, J.L., and Louis, A. 1967 Les potiers de Djerba. Secretariat D'Etat aux Affaires Culturelles et a L'Information, Tunis.Google Scholar
Cook, Scott 1982 Zapotec Stoneworkers: The Dynamics of Rural Simple Commodity Production in Modern Mexican Capitalism. University Press of America, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Cook, Scott 1984 Peasant Capitalist Industry: Piecework and Enterprise in Southern Mexican Brickyards. University Press of America, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Cook, Scott 1985 Craft Businesses, Piece Work, and Value Distribution in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico. In Markets and Marketing, edited by Plattner, Stuart, pp. 235–258. University Press of America, Lanham, MD.Google Scholar
Coon, Carleton S. 1958 Caravan: The Story of the Middle East. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York.Google Scholar
Crissman, Lawrence W. 1976 Specific Central-Place Models for an Evolving System of Market Towns on the Changua Plain, Taiwan. In Economic Systems, edited by Smith, Carol A., pp. 182–218. Regional Analysis, vol. 1. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Drucker, Philip 1943 The Ceramic Sequence at Tres Zapotes, Mexico. Bulletin No. 140. Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
English, Paul W. 1966 City and Village in Iran: Settlement and Economy in the Kirman Basin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.Google Scholar
Freidel, David A. 1981 The Political Economics of Residential Dispersion Among the Lowland Maya. In Lowland Maya Settlement Patterns, edited by Ashmore, Wendy, pp. 371–382. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Goman, Michelle 1992 Paleoecological Evidence for Prehistoric Agriculture and Tropical Forest Clearance in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Hall, A.D., and Fagan, R.E. 1956 Definition of System. General Systems 1:18–28.Google Scholar
Hassig, Ross 1985 Trade, Tribute, and Transportation: The Sixteenth-Century Political Economy of the Valley of Mexico. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Johnson, E.A.J. 1970 The Organization of Space in Developing Countries. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Gregory A. 1973 Local Exchange and Early State Development in Southwestern Iran. Anthropological Papers No. 51. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Gregory A. 1975 Locational Analysis and the Investigation of Uruk Local Exchange Systems. In Ancient Civilization and Trade, edited by Sabloff, Jeremy A. and Lamberg-Karlovsky, C.C., pp. 285–339. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Johnson, Gregory A. 1977 Aspects of Regional Analysis in Archaeology. Annual Review of Anthropology 6:479–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelley, Klara B. 1976 Dendritic Central-Place Systems and the Regional Organization of Navaho Trading Posts. In Economic Systems, edited by Smith, Carol A., pp. 219–254. Regional Analysis, vol. 1. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Killion, Thomas W. 1987 Infield Gardening Practices in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas: Building a Foundation for Archaeological Inference. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Killion, Thomas W. 1992 Residential Ethnoarchaeology and Ancient Site Structure: Contemporary Farming and Prehistoric Settlement Agriculture at Matacapan, Veracruz, Mexico. In Gardens of Prehistory: The Archaeology of Settlement Agriculture in Greater Mesoamerica, edited by Killion, Thomas W., pp. 119–149. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Lloyd, Peter E., and Dicken, Peter 1972 Location in Space: A Theoretical Approach to Economic Geography. Harper and Row, New York.Google Scholar
Losch, August 1954 The Economics of Location. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.Google Scholar
McBryde, Felix W. 1947 Cultural and Historical Geography of Southwest Guatemala. Publication No. 4. Institute of Social Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1976 Emblem and State in the Classic Maya Lowlands: An Epigraphic Approach to Territorial Organization. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1983 On the Nature of the Mesoamerican City. In Prehistoric Settlement Patterns: Essays in Honor of Gordon R. Willey, edited by Vogt, Evon and Leventhal, Richard, pp. 195–242. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1981 Teotihuacan: City, State, and Civilization. In Archaeology, edited by Sabloff, Jeremy A., pp. 198–243. Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 1. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Mintz, Sidney 1960 A Tentative Typology of Eight Haitian Marketplaces. Revista de Ciencias Sociales 4:15–58.Google Scholar
Nelson, Steven A. 1987 Alkaline Volcanism in Magmatic Arcs: Petrologie and Volcanological Investigations in the Tuxtla Volcanic Field, Veracruz, Mexico. Department of Geology, Tulane University, New Orleans. Proposal submitted to the National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Ortíz, Ceballos Ponciano 1975 La cerámica de los Tuxtlas. Tesis de licenciatura no publicada, Universidad Veracruzana, Jalapa, Mexico.Google Scholar
Ortíz, Ceballos Ponciano, and Santley, Robert S. 1988 La cerámica de Matacapan. Manuscript on file, Museo de Antropología, Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.Google Scholar
Peacock, D.P.S. 1982 Pottery in the Roman World: An Ethnoarchaeologìcal Approach. Longman, London.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 1990 Ceramic Production, Resource Procurement, and Exchange in Southern Veracruz: A View from Matacapan. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 1992 Strangers in a Strange Land: Ethnicity and Ideology at an Enclave Community in Middle Classic Mesoamerica. In Ancient Images, Ancient Thought: The Archaeology of Ideology, edited by Goldsmith, A. Sean, pp. 43–55. Proceedings of the 1990 Chacmool Conference. Archaeological Association, University of Calgary, Calgary.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 1993 Excavation of Late Formative Houselots at Bezoapan, Veracruz. Paper presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, St. Louis.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A., and Santley, Robert S. 1992 Middle Classic Pottery Economics in the Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. In Ceramic Production and Distribution: An Integrated Approach, edited by Bey, George J. III and Pool, Christopher A., pp. 205–234. Westview Press, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Rattray, Evelyn C. 1987 Evidencias de un grupo étnico de la costa del Golfo en Teotihuacán. Paper presented at the Conference, “Balance y Perspectiva de la Antropología en Veracruz.” Jalapa, Mexico.Google Scholar
Reinhardt, Bently K. 1991 Volcanology of the Younger Volcanic Sequence and Volcanic Hazards Study of the Tuxtla Volcanic Field, Veracruz, Mexico. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Geology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Sabloff, Jeremy A., Bishop, Ronald L., Harbottle, Carman, Rands, Robert L., and Sayre, Edward V. 1982 Analyses of Fine Paste Ceramics. In Excavations at Seibal: Department of Peten, Guatemala. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 15, No. 2. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., Parsons, Jeffrey R., and Santley, Robert S. 1979 The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., and Santley, Robert S. 1983 A Tale of Three Cities: Energetics and Urbanization in Prehispanic Central Mexico. In Prehistoric Settlement Patterns: Essays in Honor of Gordon R. Willey, edited by Vogt, Evon and Leventhal, Richard, pp. 243–291. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., and Webster, David L. 1988 The Mesoamerican Urban Tradition. American Anthropologist 90:521–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1979 A Preliminary Investigation of Teotihuacan Influence in the Tuxtlas Region of Veracruz. Submitted to the College of Arts and Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1983 Obsidian Trade and Teotihuacan Influence in Mesoamerica. In Highland-Lowland Interaction in Mesoamerica: Interdisciplinary Approaches, edited by Miller, Arthur, pp. 69–124. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1986 Prehispanic Roadways, Transport Network Geometry, and Aztec Politico-Economic Organization in the Basin of Mexico. In Economic Aspects of Prehispanic Highland Mexico, edited by Isaac, Barry L., pp. 223–244, Research in Economic Anthropology, supplement No. 2. JAI Press, Greenwich, CT.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1989 Obsidian Working, Long-Distance Exchange, and the Teotihuacan Presence on the South Gulf Coast. In Mesoamerica After the Decline of Teotihuacan A.D. 700–900, edited by Diehl, Richard A. and Berlo, Janet Catherine, pp. 131–151. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1991a Final Field Report: Tuxtlas Region Archaeological Survey, 1991 Field Season. Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Submitted to the National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1991b The Structure of the Aztec Transport Network. In Ancient Road Networks and Settlement Hierarchies in the New World, edited by Trombold, Charles D., pp. 198–210. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1992 A Consideration of the Olmec Phenomenon in the Tuxtlas: Early Formative Settlement Pattern, Land Use, and Refuse Disposal at Matacapan, Veracruz, Mexico. In Gardens of Prehistory: The Archaeology of Settlement Agriculture in Greater Mesoamerica, edited by Killion, Thomas W., pp. 150–183. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1994 Specialized Commodity Production in and around Matacapan: Testing the Goodness of Fit of the Regal-Ritual and Administrative Models. In Village Communities in Early Complex Societies, edited by Falconer, Steven and Schwartz, Glenn. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC., in press.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Arnold, Philip J. III, and Pool, Christopher A. 1989 The Ceramics Production System at Matacapan, Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 16:107–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Kerley, Janet M., and Kneebone, Ronald R. 1986 Obsidian Working, Long-Distance Exchange, and the Politico-Economic Organization of Early States in Central Mexico. In Economic Aspects of Prehispanic Highland Mexico, edited by Isaac, Barry L., pp. 101–132. Research in Economic Anthropology, supplement No. 2. JAI Press, Greenwich, CT.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., and Kneebone, Ronald R. 1993 Craft Specialization, Refuse Disposal, and the Creation of Spatial Archaeological Records in Prehispanic Mesoamerica. In Prehispanic Domestic Units in Western Mesoamerica: Studies of the Household, Compound, and Residence, edited by Santley, Robert S. and Hirth, Kenneth G., pp. 37–63. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Kneebone, Ronald R., and Kerley, Janet M. 1985 Rates of Obsidian Utilization in Central Mexico and on the South Gulf Coast. Lithic Technology 14(3):107–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Roberto, Lunagomez R., Barrett, Thomas P., Estes, J. Robert, Wolfman, Daniel, and Arnold, Philip J. III 1992 Informe final de campo, Proyecto “Reconocimiento Arqueologico de los Tuxtlas: Fase 2, Temporada 1992.” Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Submitted to Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Ceballos, Ponciano Ortíz, Arnold, Philip J. III, Kerley, Janet M., Kneebone, Ronald R., and Smyth, Michael P. 1985 Reporte final de campo, Proyecto Matacapan: Temporada 1983. Cuadernos del Museo de Universidad Veracruzana 4:3–98.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Ceballos, Ponciano Ortíz, Arnold, Philip J. III, Kneebone, Ronald R., and Pool, Christopher A. 1994 Reporte final de campo, Proyecto Matacapan: Temporada 1984. Cuadernos del Museo de Universidad Veracruzana, in press. MS. 1985.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Ceballos, Ponciano Ortíz, Killion, Thomas W., Arnold, Philip J. III, and Kerley, Janet M. 1984 Final Field Report of the Matacapan Archaeological Project: The 1982 Season. Research Papers Series No. 15. Latin American Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Ceballos, Ponciano Ortíz, and Kludt, Trevor 1988 El Salado: A Prehistoric Salt Production Site in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas. Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Submitted to the Heinz Trust of the Pittsburgh Foundation, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Ceballos, Ponciano Ortíz, and Pool, Christopher A. 1987 Recent Archaeological Research at Matacapan, Veracruz: A Summary of the Results of the 1982 to 1986 Field Seasons. Mexican 9:41–48.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., and Pool, Christopher A. 1993 Prehispanic Exchange Relationships Between Central Mexico, The Valley of Oaxaca, and the Gulf Coast of Mexico. In The American Southwest and Mesoamerica: Systems of Prehistoric Exchange, edited by Ericson, Jonathon E. and Baugh, Timothy G., pp. 179–211. Plenum, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santley, Robert S., Yarborough, Clare, and Hall, Barbara A. 1987 Enclaves, Ethnicity, and the Archaeological Record at Malacapan. In Ethnicity and Culture, edited by Auger, Reginald, Glass, Margaret F., MacEachern, Scott, and McCartney, Peter H., pp. 85–100. Archaeological Association, University of Calgary, Calgary.Google Scholar
SavageCharles H., Jr. Charles H., Jr., and Lombard, George F. 1986 Sons of the Machine. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Skinner, G. William 1964 Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China: Part I. Journal of Asian Studies 24:3–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, G. William 1965 Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China: Part II. Journal of Asian Studies 24:195–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Carol A., 1974 Economics of Marketing Systems: Models from Economic Geography. Annual Review of Anthropology 3:167–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Carol A., 1975 Examining Stratification Systems Through Peasant Marketing Arrangements. Man 10:95–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Carol A., 1976a Exchange Systems and the Spatial Distribution of Elites: The Organization of Stratification in Agrarian Societies. In Social Systems, edited by Smith, Carol A., pp. 390–474. Regional Analysis, vol. 2. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Smith, Carol A., 1976b Regional Economic Systems: Linking geographic models and socioeconomic problems. In Economic Systems, edited by Smith, Carol A., pp. 3–63. Regional Analysis, vol. 1. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E. 1979. The Aztec Marketing System and Settlement Pattern in the Valley of Mexico: A Central Place Analysis. American Antiquity 44:110–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stark, Barbara L. 1985 Archaeological Identification of Pottery-Production Locations: Ethnoarchaeological and Archaeological Data in Mesoamerica. In Decoding Prehistoric Ceramics, edited by Nelson, Ben A., pp. 158–194. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, Juan 1945 Las exploraciones efectuadas en los Tuxtlas, Veracruz. Anales de Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia, y Etnología 3:83–107. Mexico.Google Scholar
Vance, James E. 1970 The Merchant's World. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.van der Leeuw, Sander E.Google Scholar
Vance, James E. 1976 Studies in the Technology of Ancient Pottery. Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Vapnarsky, Cesar A. 1968 On Rank-Size Distributions of Cities: An Ecological Approach. Economic Development and Cultural Change 17:584–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weatherill, Lorna 1971 The Pottery Trade and North Staffordshire 1660–1760. Manchester University Press, Manchester.Google Scholar
Yarborough, Clare M. 1992 Teotihuacan and the Gulf Coast: Ceramic Evidence for Contact and interactional Relationships. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Zipf, George K. 1949 Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort. Addison-Wesley, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar