![]() The classical understanding of Maya political and economic organization follows that production and wealth distribution was largely elite-controlled, for the maintenance of power and to validate their position in the social hierarchy. A central debate among Mayanists has been about the nature of Classic Maya political organization and how it articulated with economic systems within and between polities. Yet, in the acquisition of these luxury materials, we can see a larger hierarchical framework to Mayan trade. Spondylus shell and Jadeite that don't belong in local areas have been found in a large number of archaeological sites and burial grounds of the Pre-Columbian Period that prove the existence of complex trade networks. The ruins of show that "using improved methods of analyzing the chemistry of ancient soils have detected where a large marketplace stood 1,500 years ago in a Maya city on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico." This is one of many archaeological sites that show proof of the use of marketplaces and advanced trade networks. But this shows that the Maya not only had a marketplace and a market economy but an important middle class of merchants as well." ![]() Traditionally we've thought the tax-tribute system was responsible for distributing goods. By comparing phosphorus levels, this "soil chemical analysis provides additional lines of evidence that have changed how we think of the ancient Maya's trade patterns. Archeologist Richard Terry used a method of chemical analysis to compare the soil of the ruins of Chunchucmil, an ancient Maya city, to that of a modern, unpaved market in Antigua, Guatemala, revealing that it was likely once a vibrant market. Journalist John Noble Wilford notes that evidence for marketplace activity demonstrates an advanced economic structure. There for economic relationships began bilaterally between Maya groups, and from this trade, networks began to develop. This framework was compounded to form a complex economy based on symbiotic relationships between communities and regions, wherein each relied on others to fill specific deficiencies in return for their specialized products, thus maximizing the overall production of the Maya kingdom. As part of the social economy, localized trade enabled comparative advantage to be utilised within communities that possessed products in abundance as they were able to exchange these with other communities to acquire what was unavailable locally. Large settlements across this region would use their most abundant resources to trade with other groups who did not have a lot of these resources. Over the early Neoclassic era (2000 BC to 250 AD), the Maya civilization had spread throughout the Yucatan Peninsula and modern southern Mexican states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, and Quintana Roo and expanded throughout Central America in Guatemala, parts of Honduras, sections of El Salvador, and Belize. ![]() A ruler successful in war was able to control more laborers and exact tribute on defeated enemies, further increasing their economic might. Furthermore, Maya laborers were subject to a labor tax to build palaces, temples and public works. Maya specialist Joanne Pillsbury states that "access to imported goods is perhaps the most recoverable aspect of prestige and leadership in ancient states." The power of Maya rulers not only depended on their ability to control resources, but also in managing the production and distribution of status goods as well as (non-local) commodities like salt. While subsistence agriculture played a central role in daily life, the Maya had a mechanism for economic exchange between settlements, which was capable of supporting specialists and a system of merchants through trade routes. Though there is limited archeological evidence to study the trade of perishable goods, it is noteworthy to explore the trade networks of artifacts and other luxury items that were likely transported together. The Maya economy had no universal form of trade exchange other than resources and services that could be provided among groups such as cacao beans and copper bells. ![]() Economy is conventionally defined as a function for production and distribution of goods and services by multiple agents within a society and/or geographical place An economy is hierarchical, made up of individuals that aggregate to make larger organizations such as governments and gives value to goods and services. ![]()
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