Realizing Value in Mesoamerica

This edited collection addresses concepts of value and its impact on economies and economic decision-making in Mesoamerica. It brings together various theoretical and methodological approaches to illuminate the little-studied topic of value in ancient economies.

While scholars increasingly note that tangible objects found in the archaeological record could assume different values, depending on how they were used and circulated, less attention has been paid to how we might infer consensus (or lack of consensus) on how value was determined in past cultures so different from contemporary ones. These contributions show how multiple and conflicting understandings of what is important and meaningful coexist within any society even as moments of exchange create the impression of shared formulations of value. They consider divergences between shared understandings based on systems of beliefs and patterns of practice and the individual decisions of social actors. They also discuss how inequalities in social structures might inform our understanding of value, and how a multiplicity of values might encourage closer inspection of inequality in turn.

The book brings together fifteen chapters focused on many parts of Mesoamerica, including Western Mexico, the Basin of Mexico, Veracruz, Oaxaca, and various parts of the Maya Lowlands, and range chronologically from the Classic period (250-900 CE) to the Spanish Conquest in the early 16th Century. It appeals to those working in archaeology, economic anthropology, economic history, and all those interested in how value can be understood in terms of contemporary cultural and political differences.
Scott Hutson is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky. He is the author of several books on the Maya. He has been doing fieldwork in the Maya lowlands, usually focusing on household archaeology, settlement patterns, and ritual practice, since 1996.
Charles Golden is Professor of Anthropology at Brandeis University. He has conducted archaeological research in Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico, and his investigations have focused on the borders between Maya kingdoms and the economic, social, and ritual ties that bound rural villages into larger political communities.