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METALLURGY, MAYAPAN, AND THE POSTCLASSIC MESOAMERICAN WORLD SYSTEM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2008

Elizabeth H. Paris
Elizabeth H. Paris*
Affiliation:
University at Albany, State University of New York, Arts and Sciences 237, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, USA
*
E-mail correspondence to:[email protected]
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Abstract

Residents of Mayapan produced and consumed metal artifacts through long-distance commercial exchange networks in the Postclassic Mesoamerican world system. In this paper, I perform a stylistic and typological analysis of metal artifacts and debris from lost-wax casting from recent excavations at Mayapan, with reference to previously excavated collections by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC. The distribution of metal artifacts suggests that metal objects were not sumptuary goods restricted to elites, but luxury goods availble to those who could afford them. I then compare Mayapan with other sites in the Postclassic Mesoamerican world system that were involved in the interregional distribution of metal artifacts. Although Mayapan did not have local sources of native metal or a longstanding traditions of metalworking, it was able to use its economic influence in the world system to obtain and create metal objects specific to its needs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , Spring 2008 , pp. 43 - 66
Copyright
Copyright ©Cambridge University Press 2008

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