Craft Production and Sociopolitical Hierarchy in Southern Mesoamerica

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Schortman With National Science Foundation support Drs. Schortman and Urban will continue their archaeological work in the 96 km2 Naco valley which is located in NW Honduras. Their prior research has revealed over two millennia of continuous occupation predating the Spanish Conquest. This span was characterized by changes in political centralization and the extent to which the valley was integrated within a single polity. The team will focus their attention on one of the most marked centralizing episodes, the Late Classic period (AD 600-95) when Naco and its immediate environs were administered from the site of La Sierra. Although concentration of power at La Sierra is strongly indicated by the archaeological record, it is much harder to identify the factors which underlie this political process. Evidence suggests that La Sierra's rulers monopolized the production and distribution of a limited range of generally needed items. These goods, the researchers hypothesize, were fashioned using complex, difficult- to-learn skills on materials localized in the capital. In effect, control was achieved through the imposition of an economic monopoly. However, data also indicate that this monopoly was not complete and that outlying areas manipulated the system to obtain varying degrees of autonomy. The goal of the present research is to evaluate in detail how this system worked. The research team will excavate a series of sites, not only in the capitol of La Sierra, but also in a number of outlying areas which are located at different distances from it. This research is important because it will shed new light on how complex societies emerge and are maintained. The level of effective political centralization observed in the Naco valley is widely replicated in many parts of the third world today. Archaeology offers the possibility to gain unique insight into such political mechanisms because it permits them to be followed over extended time periods. The work is also import ant because it will involve a large number of undergraduate students and encourage them to pursue careers in science. ***