The Value of Things

Prehistoric to Contemporary Commodities in the Maya Region

Jennifer P. Mathews, Thomas H. Guderjan

• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780816555376, 9780816533527
• eBook ISBN: 9780816536320
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

Jade, stone tools, honey and wax, ceramics, rum, land. What gave these commodities value in the Maya world, and how were those values determined? What factors influenced the rise and fall of a commodity's value? The Value of Things examines the social and ritual value of commodities in Mesoamerica, providing a new and dynamic temporal view of the roles of trade of commodities and elite goods from the prehistoric Maya to the present.

Editors Jennifer P. Mathews and Thomas H. Guderjan begin the volume with a review of the theoretical literature related to the "value of things." Throughout the volume, well-known scholars offer chapters that examine the value of specific commodities in a broad time frame—from prehistoric, colonial, and historic times to the present. Using cases from the Maya world on both the local level and the macro-regional, contributors look at jade, agricultural products (ancient and contemporary), stone tools, salt, cacao (chocolate), honey and wax, henequen, sugarcane and rum, land, ceramic (ancient and contemporary), and contemporary tourist handicrafts.

Each chapter author looks into what made their specific commodity valuable to ancient, historic, and contemporary peoples in the Maya region. Often a commodity's worth goes far beyond its financial value; indeed, in some cases, it may not even be viewed as something that can be sold. Other themes include the rise and fall in commodity values based on perceived need, rarity or overproduction, and change in available raw materials; the domestic labor side of commodities, including daily life of the laborers; and relationships between elites and nonelites in production.

Examining, explaining, and theorizing how people ascribe value to what they trade, this scholarly volume provides a rich look at local and regional Maya case studies through centuries of time.

Contributors:

Rani T. Alexander
Dean E. Arnold
Timothy Beach
Briana Bianco
Steven Bozarth
Tiffany C. Cain
Scott L. Fedick
Thomas H. Guderjan
John Gust
Eleanor Harrison-Buck
Brigitte Kovacevich
Samantha Krause
Joshua J. Kwoka
Richard M. Leventhal
Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach
Jennifer P. Mathews
Heather McKillop
Allan D. Meyers
Gary Rayson
Mary Katherine Scott
E. Cory Sills

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction: The Value of Things
• 1. The Value of Labor: How the Production Process Added Value to Pre-Columbian Maya Jade
• 2. Production of Ancient Wetland Agricultural Commodities in the Maya Lowlands
• 3. Finding Value in the Mundane: Chert Features and Communities of Practice at San Bartolo, Guatemala
• 4. The Paynes Creek Salt Works, Belize: A Model for Ancient Maya Salt Production
• 5. Beekeeping Practices in Modern and Ancient Yucatán: Going from the Known to the Unknown
• 6. The Coin of Her Realm: Cacao as Gendered Goods among the Prehispanic and Colonial Maya
• 7. Prerevolutionary Henequen Landscapes of Northwestern Yucatán
• 8. Cosmopolitan Living? Examining the Sugar and Rum Industry of the Costa Escondida, Quintana Roo, Mexico
• 9. Plant-Food Commodities of the Maya Lowlands
• 10. Questioning the Status of Land as Commodity in Maya Quintana Roo and Belize
• 11. Changes in Ceramics as Commodities in Ticul, Yucatán, Mexico (1965–2008) and What They Tell Us about Ancient Maya Ceramic Production
• 12. Meaning in the Making: Locating Value in the Production and Consumption of Maya Tourist Arts
• References
• Contributors
• Index