Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Household Economic Organization and Commercialization in Postclassic Highland Chiapas

在Marilyn A. Masson博士的指导下，Elizabeth Paris女士将在恰帕斯高地圣克里斯托瓦尔（Jovel）山谷的后古典时期遗址调查家庭生产者在地方、区域和区域间贸易网络中的参与情况。在后古典时期（公元900-1500年），区域间交换网络在中美洲的几个地区扩大，流通货物的数量和种类空前增加。在Jovel山谷的两个后古典时期的小山顶遗址Moxviquil和La Hermita，区域间联系的扩大可能为农业和手工业生产者提供了新的机会，通过交换剩余商品获得经济财富，如果不是社会地位的话。作为回应，精英们同样可能会通过禁止、限制或垄断对外交换，以及利用贡品义务来获取专家剩余生产的利益，来努力限制这些机会。在精英和普通家庭垃圾处理区的挖掘将确定当地生产者不受政治控制的自治程度，并检查家庭在参与地方、区域和区域间交换网络方面的差异。随着经济网络在区域内和跨区域的扩展，它们可能对个别家庭和社区产生重大影响，带来新的机遇和挑战。该项目将提供一个考古测试案例，以区分这些家庭和社区的两种潜在反应，即通过贡品与贸易交换家庭剩余生产。如果家庭产品通过市场交换，那么通过贸易获得的大量和多样化的进口商品将反映出更大的富裕程度。相反，如果货物是通过重贡机制转移的，那么净效应应该是财富从家庭中流失，贸易进口应该没有得到很好的体现。分析将比较在生产陶瓷、石器工具、贝壳、布料、动物产品、琥珀、盐和金属物品中使用和丢弃的工具、废料和设施。民族历史文献表明，恰帕斯高原拥有丰富的自然资源，如琥珀、绿皮、山狮皮、玉石、黄金、盐、鱼和猎物，这些资源可能不仅对维持生计和当地交换很重要，而且在与中美洲其他地区的长途贸易中也很重要。通过与圣克里斯托瓦尔的纳博洛姆博物馆的持续合作，帕里斯女士及其同事将向圣克里斯托瓦尔的当地观众提供该项目的成果，并通过纳博洛姆博物馆和中美洲研究所的网站向国际观众提供项目成果。学术界的出版物将包括论文，同行评审的期刊文章和会议演讲。在实地考察期间，项目工作人员在Na Bolom博物馆的住所将有助于在实地考察期间创建临时展览，游客将能够看到最近挖掘的文物并向调查人员提问。该项目还将通过挖掘方法和文物分析方面的培训，促进研究生和本科生项目人员的专业发展。

Under the supervision of Dr. Marilyn A. Masson, Ms. Elizabeth Paris will investigate the participation of household producers in local, regional, and interregional trade networks at Postclassic period sites in the San Cristobal (Jovel) Valley of highland Chiapas. During the Postclassic period (A.D. 900-1500), interregional exchange networks expanded in several regions of Mesoamerica with an unprecedented increase in the volume and diversity of goods in circulation. At Moxviquil and La Hermita, two small Postclassic period hilltop sites in the Jovel Valley, amplified interregional connections may have provided agricultural and craft producers with new opportunities to gain economic wealth, if not social status, through the exchange of surplus goods. In response, elites likewise may have endeavored to restrict such opportunities, by banning, restricting, or monopolizing external exchanges, and taking advantage of tribute obligations to reap the benefits of surplus production by specialists. Excavations at elite and commoner household refuse disposal areas will identify the degree of autonomy of local producers from political control, and examine houselot variation in participation in local, regional, and interregional exchange networks. As economic networks expand within and across regions, they can have significant impacts on individual households and communities, presenting both new opportunities and challenges. This project will provide an archaeological test case for distinguishing two potential responses by these households and communities, as enacted through the exchange of household surplus production through tribute versus trade. If household products were exchanged through marketplaces, houselot assemblages would reflect greater affluence through the high volume and diversity of imported goods they obtained through trade. In contrast, if goods were transferred through the mechanism of heavy tribute, then the net effect should be a drain of wealth away from the household and traded imports should be poorly represented. Analyses will compare tools, waste materials, and facilities utilized in the production of ceramics, lithic tools, shell, cloth, animal products, amber, salt and metal items to those used and discarded through household daily activities. Ethnohistorical documents suggest that highland Chiapas was rich in natural resources such as amber, quetzal feathers, mountain lion pelts, jade, gold, salt, fish and game, and that these resources may have been important not only for subsistence and local exchange, but in long-distance trade with other areas of Mesoamerica. Through continued collaboration with the Museo Na Bolom in San Cristobal de las Casas, Ms. Paris and colleagues will make the results of the project available to both local audiences in San Cristobal, and internationally through the Museo Na Bolom and Institute of Mesoamerican Studies websites. Publications for the academic community will include a dissertation, peer-reviewed journal articles, and conference presentations. Project staff residence at the Museo Na Bolom during the field season will facilitate the creation of temporary displays during the field seasons in which visitors will be able to see recently excavated artifacts and ask questions of investigators. The project will also contribute to the professional development of graduate and undergraduate project staff through training in excavation methods and artifact analysis.