Modeling Economic Exchange

Plog, Fred

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-227650-7.50013-4

Cited by 23 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…The reasons are undoubtedly complex, multifaceted, and unique to an island or archipelago, and it is insightful to key on the well-dated Tangatatau habitation site with imported adze material over much of the sequence. Internal social conditions during later prehistory, such as the increased importance of maintaining productive agricultural lands or escalation of intertribal conflicts (whether on Mangaia or the archipelagos it was in contact with), outweighed the need for obtaining prestige items acquired from long-distance voyaging (31,32). Our results from the Tangatatau rockshelter have enhanced our understanding of the extent and duration of long-distance voyaging in East Polynesia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…Prior geochemical studies documented the transfer of fine-grained basalt adze material after the colonization of most East Polynesian archipelagos; however, the dates for the end of such regional voyaging and interaction are not well known (31,32,39). It is likely that the cessation of long-distance voyaging occurred at different times for each archipelago, reflecting the variability in types and sizes of islands, dates of colonization, productivity of the terrestrial landscape over time, human population trajectories, evolving social conditions, island accessibility (such as the position and direction of currents and seasonal winds), and distance to other islands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Geochemically "fingerprinting" finegrained basalt adze material from the Tangatatau rockshelter allowed us to define the voyaging sphere (network) size, directionality, and time span of postcolonization interaction (31). The closest extraarchipelago source of imported adzes was from Rurutu Island, 663 km (358 nautical miles) in the northern Austral Islands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cook Island artifact geochemistry demonstrates spatial and temporal extent of pre-European interarchipelago voyaging in East Polynesia

Weisler

Bolhar

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The Cook Islands are considered the “gateway” for human colonization of East Polynesia, the final chapter of Oceanic settlement and the last major region occupied on Earth. Indeed, East Polynesia witnessed the culmination of the greatest maritime migration in human history. Perennial debates have critiqued whether Oceanic settlement was purposeful or accidental, the timing and pathways of colonization, and the nature and extent of postcolonization voyaging—essential for small founding groups securing a lifeline between parent and daughter communities. Centering on the well-dated Tangatatau rockshelter, Mangaia, Southern Cook Islands, we charted the temporal duration and geographic spread of exotic stone adze materials—essential woodworking tools found throughout Polynesia— imported for more than 300 y beginning in the early AD 1300s. Using a technique requiring only 200 mg of sample for the geochemical analysis of trace elements and isotopes of fine-grained basalt adzes, we assigned all artifacts to an island or archipelago of origin. Adze material was identified from the chiefly complex on the Austral Islands, from the major adze quarry complex on Tutuila (Samoa), and from the Marquesas Islands more than 2,400 km distant. This interaction is the only dated example of down-the-line exchange in central East Polynesia where intermediate groups transferred commodities attesting to the interconnectedness and complexity of social relations fostered during postsettlement voyaging. For the Cook Islands, this exchange may have lasted into the 1600s, at least a century later than other East Polynesian archipelagos, suggesting that interarchipelago interaction contributed to the later development of social hierarchies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cook Island artifact geochemistry demonstrates spatial and temporal extent of pre-European interarchipelago voyaging in East Polynesia

Weisler

Bolhar

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…In doing so, they listed criteria for an investigation of production at a general level. Several of their components are similar to the requirements set forth by Plog (1977) for establishing a trading network, but others demonstrate a greater contextualization within an anthropological framework (Pool and Bey 2007). Indeed, one can see a change in their conceptual framework, from a systems-informed, rather mechanistic view in 1992 toward concepts involving multiple dimensions of variation (Pool and Bey 2007:4).…”

Section: An Evaluative Framworkmentioning

confidence: 83%

Instrumental Approaches to Understanding Mesoamerican Economy: Elusive Promises

Bishop

2014

Ancient Mesoam

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More than four decades ago, instrumental developments, such as those involving neutron activation and X-ray florescence, began to generate relatively large quantities of data from the analysis of archaeological materials. These data served as the basis for many models of long-distance exchange as a means of explaining the development of cultural complexity. I review aspects of this early history and the how use of compositional data is now more directed toward localized investigations of economic activity. Even with this refocus of research interest, studies involving material characterization appear to be declining. Using traditional citation, personal experience, and highly selective examples, I discuss the use of analytical techniques for studies of long-distance trade, as it developed and now confronts interpretive difficulties that are inherent in the data and rendered more so by use of abstract constructs and resource limitations.

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“…The next task beyond quantified distribution plots in the investigation of archaeological trade networks involves a consideration of the nature of the specific archaeological deposits that yield trade goods (e.g., middens vs. fill, or houses vs. temples) and inferences on their socioeconomic contexts (e.g., rural vs. urban, or elite vs. commoner; see Plog 1977 Sisson 1984Gorcnstein 1973MacNeish, Peterson, and Flannery 1970:227 Sisson 1973Byland 1980: 167 Bernal 1948-1949Lind 1987:12 Blanton 1978 (Sisson 1973(Sisson , 1974 and completion of to a very limited extent. Medellin's excavations at Quauhtochco my own work at Postclassic sites in Morelos (Smith et al 1989).…”

Section: Ceramic Distribution Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Distance Trade under the Aztec Empire: The Archaeological Evidence

Smith

1990

Ancient Mesoam

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This article presents archaeological data on Late Postclassic long-distance trade in central and northern Mesoamerica. A~t e c trade goods from the Basin of Mexico (ceramics and obsidian) are widespread, while imports from other areas are much less common, both in the Basin of Mexico and elsewhere. The artifactual data signal a high volume of exchange in the Late Postclassic, and while trade was spatially nucleated around the Basin of Mexico, most exchange activity was apparently not under strong political control. The archaeological findings are compared with ethnohistoric sources to further our knowledge of the mechanisms of exchange, the effect of elite consumption on trade, and the relationship between trade and imperialism.Ethnohistory makes it clear that long-distance trade was an important institution in Aztec society. Exotic goods from all over hlesoamerica were offered for sale in the Tenochtitlan marketplace, the professional pochteca merchants traded extensively both inside and outside of the Aztec empire, trade was closely linked to Aztec imperialism, and exotic luxury items played crucial sociopolitical roles in Aztec society (see, for example, Berdan 1978Berdan , 1982Berdan , 1987b. But what are the material manifestations of this extensive and culturally important system of exchange? In spite of numerous methodological and conceptual advances in the archaeological analysis of prehistoric trade and trade goods (e.g., Earle and Ericson 1977; Hirth 1984;Nelson 1985;Zeitlin 1982), archaeology has so far made almost no contribution to our knowledge of Aztec trade. A recent review of archaeological studies of the Aztec economy (Smith 1987d) was able to include little discussion of long-distance trade, and recent treatments of Late Postclassic exchange by archaeologists (e.g., Drennan 1984a; Sanders and Santley 1983) rely upon ethnohistory, quantitative reconstructions, and comparisons with earlier periods, avoiding any discussion of archaeological evidence for Late Postclassic exchange.There are two reasons for the lack of attention to material evidence for Aztec trade: (I) the existing data are widely scattered, much of it in obscure publications; and (2) most of the evidence is of poor quality, consisting simply of statements that particular trade goods were found at a site. This article assembles much of the scattered evidence for Aztec long-distance exchange in order to see what it can tell us about Late Postclassic economics. While a general lack of contextual data for individual finds hampers interpretation of the socioeconomic significance of trade goods, sufficient information is available to make a number of inferences about Aztec trade that go beyond the data available from ethnohistory.My emphasis here is on the archaeological evidence for Aztec long-distance trade, and I make rather limited use of the abundant ethnohistoric data on Aztec exchange.

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Modeling Economic Exchange

Cited by 23 publications

References 1 publication

Cook Island artifact geochemistry demonstrates spatial and temporal extent of pre-European interarchipelago voyaging in East Polynesia

Cook Island artifact geochemistry demonstrates spatial and temporal extent of pre-European interarchipelago voyaging in East Polynesia

Instrumental Approaches to Understanding Mesoamerican Economy: Elusive Promises

Long-Distance Trade under the Aztec Empire: The Archaeological Evidence

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