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Poster Information:
This poster may be of particular interest to:  Practicing and Applied Anthropologists     Students
Type: Poster
Poster Title: TESTING THE NOTION OF ANCIENT MAYA MARKETPLACES: RESULTS OF INVESTIGATIONS AT THE CLASSIC PERIOD SITE OF BUENAVISTA DEL CAYO, BELIZE
Author: BERNADETTE CAP   
Date/Time: Sat., 1:45 PM-3:30 PM
Co-Author(s): BERNADETTE CAP 
Abstract: Colonial accounts written in the mid-16th century about the ancient Maya make reference to use of marketplaces as a mechanism of trade. Questions remain as to the extent marketplaces were used in earlier periods, however. The ancient Maya did not write about their economic systems nor are there many representations of economic transactions in the pictorial corpus. Therefore, interpretations of Maya economic systems currently rely on studies of material acquisition, production, and discard patterns. This research is then drawn upon to build indirect understandings of how goods come to be distributed in a community. Identifying the actual location of a marketplace is one way to establish directly how/where individuals from all sectors of society might have obtained everyday goods. Scholars recently have begun to address how to identify ancient Maya marketplace locations and the data presented here builds upon this research. Ancient marketplaces are difficult to identify due to the removal of goods after their purchase and regular cleaning of the market space. This poster focuses on the correlates and methods used to investigate a potential marketplace venue at the Late Classic site of Buenavista del Cayo, Belize. Several lines of evidence recovered from the site’s East Plaza, including the spatial division of goods by material type and end-stage production of chert and obsidian tools, suggests a marketplace was held in the plaza during the Late Classic. This finding has ramifications for future identification of ancient marketplaces as well as for building understandings of economic systems in the Buenavista community.

Program Number: 4-0650
Session Title: MESOAMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Session Sponsor: Archaeology Division
Session Date/Time: Sat., 1:45 PM-3:30 PM
Organizer(s): ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM COMMITTEE (AAA) 
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