Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Ancient Societies

by Garraty, Christopher P.

• ISBN13: 9781607320289
• ISBN10: 1607320282
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-05-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Colorado

Summary

Ancient market activities are dynamic in the economies of most ancient states, yet they have received little research from the archaeological community. This is the first book to address the development, change, and organisational complexity of ancient markets from a comparative archaeological perspective. Drawing from historical documents and archaeological records from Mesoamerica, the U.S. Southwest, East Africa, and the Andes, this volume reveals the complexity of ancient marketplace development and economic behaviour both in hierarchical and non-hierarchical societies. Highlighting four principal themes -- the defining characteristics of market exchange; the recognition of market exchange archaeologically; the relationship among market, political, and other social institutions; and the conditions in which market systems develop and change -- the book contains a strong methodological and theoretical focus on market exchange. Diverse contributions from noted scholars show the history of market exchange and other activities to be more dynamic than scholars previously appreciated. This book will be of interest to archaeologists, anthropologists, material-culture theorists, economists, and historians.

Author Biography

Christopher P. Garraty is a senior ceramic analyst at Statistical Research, Inc.
Barbaral L. Stark is a professor of anthropology at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	p. ix
List of Figures	p. xi
List of Tables	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
Theoretical and Methodological Overviews
Investigating Market Exchange in Ancient Societies: A Theoretical Review	p. 3
Detecting Marketplace Exchange in Archaeology: A Methodological Review	p. 33
Case Studies
The Rise and Demise of Marketplace Exchange among the Prehistoric Hohokam of Arizona	p. 61
A Multiscalar Perspective on Market Exchange in the Classic-Period Valley of Oaxaca	p. 85
Origins and Development of Mesoamerican Marketplaces: Evidence from South-Central Veracruz, Mexico	p. 99
The Rise and Fall of Market Exchange: A Dynamic Approach to Ancient Maya Economy	p. 127
Housing the Market: Swahili Merchants and Regional Marketing on the East African Coast, Seventh to Sixteenth Centuries AD	p. 141
Regional and Local Market Systems in Aztec-Period Morelos	p. 161
Comparative Contributions
Labor Taxes, Market Systems, and Urbanization in the Prehispanic Andes: A Comparative Perspective	p. 185
Evaluating Causal Factors in Market Development in Premodern States: A Comparative Study, with Critical Comments on the History of Ideas about Markets	p. 207
Finding the Mark in the Marketplace: The Organization, Development, and Archaeological Identification of Market Systems	p. 227
References Cited	p. 249
Index	p. 313
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