Contrary to the
early investigators such as Thompson, now we know that The Maya
participated in long distance trade with many of the
Mesoamerican cultures, including Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, and
other groups in central and gulf-coast México, the Caribbean
islands and down up to Colombia, as well as inter-site commerce. Favorable allocation of
resources and specialization
facilitated favorable trading
relationships. The availability of resources is so tightly
connected to economics that scholars often use economic laws,
such as supply and demand, when assessing ancient Maya commerce.
Specialization in trade can be defined as specialized
exploitation of resources by populations in a specific
environmental zone. Concentration in a specific area of commerce
in response to availability of resources was key in determining
the products exchanged between two groups. This long distance
trade surely was accompanied by the exchange of
writing,
astronomic and mathematical
knowledge and any other cultural
manifestation.
Tak'alik Ab'aj in the Pacific Lowlands
is a well studied trade center since the Early Preclassic,
the original population apparently arrived during
the Early Preclassic period, and around the Middle Preclassic,
the inhabitants were already involved in a trade network that
connected the Olmec
groups. The trade network was concentrated in a lineal route
that ran along the boca costa region in Guatemala and that
connected Mexico with El Salvador. By the beginning of the Late
Preclassic period, trade nexuses were switched to the Maya
groups, with a strong orientation towards
Kaminaljuyú in the
Highlands. The commercial
route was essentially the same, except for the fact that
Kaminaljuyu and its trade connections with the Motagua basin
were integrated into the network. This connection ceased to
exist by the end of the Preclassic period. At the beginning of
the Early Classic period, Tak’alik Ab’aj established new
relationships with the Northwestern Guatemalan Highlands, more
specifically with the Solano group that was in a process of
expansion from the centers located in the northwest, and which
eventually took control over Kaminaljuyu. At that time, the
trade route no longer continued in line along the boca costa,
but instead, it became vertical, connecting the South Coast not
only with the Northwestern Altiplano but indirectly, with the
Central Altiplano now under the control of the Solano group.
Another change occurred during the Late Classic, when Tak’alik
Ab’aj apparently became independent just like many other sites
of the South Coast of Guatemala, such as
Chocolá, in the department of Suchitepéquez, and
Cotzumalguapa, Montana and Texas in the department of Escuintla
(Bove 1989:80).
During the Preclassic the first truly state
in Mesoamérica, The Mirador
Basin, was linked by huge causeways that allowed the
exchange of goods between bajos around 800 BC, thus giving them
the strength to build the
largest structures known in the Americas, including the
largest Pyramid in the world, La Danta.
For the Maya, the
world was a transformational and multi-sensorial place, governed
by analogical symbolic reasoning, where the senses of smell,
touch, sight and hearing appear to have merge in what Houston
and Taube (2000) have called ‘cultural synaesthesia’.
Contextualized within sacred landscapes, different kinds of
matter such as Jade, that was believed to belong to rulers,
attracted moisture, had a magnetic quality and bestowed
greenness and fertility to the area around it. Turquoise,
similarly, was the property of the gods and was believed to emit
smoke. A defining quality of the Maya world-view is the cross-media
sensual dimension which links objects to landscape, deities,
myth and
everyday life,
thus, green objects such as Quetzal feathers, Jade and Turquoise,
represented the sacred link between the gods and the rulers.
Obsidian, which, in the absence of metal
tools, underwrote the economic and symbolic life of the Maya for
some three thousand years, played a main role in
agriculture and hunting, but
probably the most powerful role of
obsidian was as weapon and
sacrificial blade.
The rise of merchants during the
Pre Classic and Classic Periods facilitated growth in the
middle class as well as the elite of many Maya communities. The
rise of a middle class is not so much connected to the merchants
themselves, but rather, to the
intermediary occupations, such as
skilled artisans and craftsmen, who were indirectly involved in
commerce.
Maya farmers transported their cocoa beans to market by canoe or
in large baskets strapped to their backs, and a Mecapal, (forehead band
tied to the basket). Wealthy merchants traveled further, employing porters, as
there were no horses, pack animals or wheeled carts in Central America
at that time. Some ventured as far as Teotihuacan, introducing them to
the much-prized cocoa beans, it was also traded with the
Tainos
from
Cuba and the Quechua from South America. Chocolate was made from roasted cocoa beans, water and a little spice:
and it was the most important use of cocoa beans, although they were
also valued as a currency. An early explorer visiting Guatemala found that:
A large tomato was worth one bean,
a turkey egg was 3 beans,
4 cocoa beans could buy a pumpkin,
100 could buy a rabbit
or a good turkey hen, and 1000
a slave. Cacao beans were worth transporting for long distances because
they were luxury items. In Maya times, one of the privilege of the elite
(the royal house, nobles, shamans, artist, merchants, and warriors) was
to drink chocolate. although it was not used as currency like in the Postclassic, it surely was a good trade foodstuff
Recent studies are
being aimed to the Trade routes and importance of long distance
commerce in the Maya Civilization, that has been documented
since the Preclassic, and flourished during the Classic period
and certainly had a central role in the Politics, and
Warfare
the led to the Classic Maya collapse.
Perhaps the most
important goods involved in long distance trade to the
Petén Lowlands, were Salt,
Obsidian, Jade, Turquoise,
Cacao, Cotton, Vanilla and
Quetzal feathers, although prestigious items such as Chert, Flint
and Granite (fine and course
grained) used for manos and metates and traded all around
Mesoamerica, for this material only comes from volcanic areas
(like Maya Mountains of Belize and Highlands of Guatemala),
for
weapons and domestic tools, Pyrite, Hematite,
Cinnabar were used for colors, mirrors,
dyes
and
polishing materials, and other minerals such as
basalt (and other volcaniclastic rocks all used for grinding
stones), quartz, travertine, magnatite (used for black
pigments), limonite (used for yellow pigments), greenstones
(like serpentine), high-quality clays (common in specialized
cave deposits used for high-quality ceramics). Artistic ceramics, Macaw feathers,
Jaguar skins and other animal furs
and of course crops, were obtained locally, also
were traded between cities as exchange goods. The large centers
acted as redistribution centers where merchants obtained the
goods to sale in minor cities. The largest known market is that
from Tikal, where all kind of
goods where exchanged, but mainly
every day goods such as clothes, fruits, vegetables, salted fish
and meat, and domestic pottery. Even the most skilful and
dedicated farmers had to trade some of its production in order
to obtain salt, chocolate and other commodities.
Feathers were used
for personal adornment, as was also Jade and Obsidian. The
brilliant tail feathers of the Resplendent Quetzal, that lives
in the Highland cloud forests in Guatemala, the vivid green of
the Jade from the Motagua River Valley, and the sharp and hard
Obsidian objects, from the
Highlands, that are essential in the
Maya Cosmovision and
social system, were rare and therefore commanded a high price.
The large quantities of spondyllus shells,
(both from the Pacific and the Caribbean), shaped in squares or
in necklaces and earrings, found
in
the Preclassic sites of the Mirador Basin,
have led some scholars such as Dr. Richard Hansen to believe
that this was the first “currency” used by the Maya, and also
are, a proof of long distance commerce. During the
classic, the trade was made by exchanging goods to obtain
whatever someone needs, although a piece of Jade will buy a lot
of goods. Cacao beans are documented as currency during the Post
Classic. The presence of almost
complete specimens of marine shells from both coasts is
fascinating, and outlines the importance of the wide trading
connections of the earlier elites of the place, underlining the
significance of El Mirador in the commerce interactions from
north to south and from east to west, between the coasts and the
interior of the Maya Lowlands (Sharer 1994:458).
SALT: It is estimated that the Early Classic Tikal's
population of roughly 45,000 consumed
approximately 131.4 tons
of salt annually. Not
only is it required in diet, but it can also be used as a
preservative
Salt was also frequently used for
ritual and medicinal purposes. It is also believed that salt was
commonly used during childbirth and death. A midwife would offer
salt to both parents at birth and a saline
solution
was sprinkled throughout the house following the death of a
family member.
Veterans of battle often wore armor, consisting of
short cotton jackets packed with rock salt--the
equivalent of the modern "flack jacket" and tight bindings of
leather or cloth on forearms and legs. Cotton armor is so much
more effective than any other protection
Three major sources
of Salt have been identified for the
Petén Lowlands Maya sites,
the Pacific Lowlands, the Caribbean coast and the Salinas de los Nueve Cerros in the Chixoy river in the Highlands of Alta Verapaz
in Guatemala, where the salt is obtained from a brine springs
that flows from a Salt dome, curiously its color is
black, this site produced an estimated of 2,000 tons
per year.
Other in- land sources such as San Mateo Ixtatán in
Huehuetenango and Sacapulas in Quiché also have been documented
and are still in use. The Salt was obtained in disposable tin
unfired brine-cooking vessels, such as the ones still used in Sacapulas and San Mateo Ixtatán, Guatemala, that not only
evaporated the water, but made blocks of salt, the vessel was
thus, a single use. In The Pacific Lowlands, platforms were used
to obtain sun-dry salt, near La Blanca such platforms have been
documented ca 1000 BC, and are perhaps the oldest in
Mesoamerica. Both methods were used in the production of salt,
as has been proved in Nueve Cerros by Andrews and Dillon. The
salt was then transported using the river routes, such as the
Chixoy, that forms the Usumacinta when it confluences with the
Pasión river near Altar de Sacrificios.
Jade and Obsidian:
The Jade route was mainly the Motagua river and a recently
discovered land route in the Sierra de las Minas, and then
distributed to all the Maya area and beyond, using canoes in the Caribbean
routes, as well as the Pasión River route via the land route
trough
Alta Verapaz.
A unique
and
valuable trade item tends to become more valuable as it is traded
farther from the source. The incentive is to profit by continuing to
trade it until one of three things happens: an owner can’t bear to
part with it, it reaches a cultural area where it is not valued, or
it reaches the bitter end of the trade route. For the jadeite axes
found on Antigua, the second and third may have both applied.
Antigua was the far eastern edge of the Taino cultural area and of
the Caribbean island chain.
This finding are significant geologically and archaeologically as it
argues for the primacy of Guatemala as the New World source of
jadeite jade and refutes an assertion that all exotic gems and
minerals in the Eastern Caribbean were sourced from South America,
as no jadeite rock is known from there.
(See Jade). The
Caribbean route is also the most likely
Olmec trade route
for Jade. The fact that Cancuén
appears to have prospered for hundreds of years without warfare
and that commerce appeared to play a far more important role in
everyday life than religion contradicts the widespread view
among scholars that religion and warfare were the sources of
power for Maya rulers, particularly toward the end of their
dominance, after about 600 A.D.
This is true also for the
Obsidian, transported from the El
Chayal (25 Km north from
Kaminaljuyú), San Martín
Jilotepeque and from the Ixtepeque quarries, using a river
that confluences with the Motagua River, then it was
transported
from the Caribbean shores, using the Río Azul,
Holmul and Mopán
rivers systems, to distribute it to the Major centers in Petén.
In El Baúl Cotzumalguapa, in the
Pacific Lowlands, large
workshops have been documented, the
production of artifacts was aimed at manufacturing two major
products: prismatic blades and projectile points. Both
technological types required specialized skills and a
centralized productive organization. The major purpose of this
production was serving the local and probably the regional
demand of cutting tools, throwing weapons with a cutting point,
and instruments for scraping, polishing and perforating, all of
which could be a part of household maintenance activities.
Quiriguá gained importance due to its dominance of the
Motagua
River route, as Cancuén
a quiet port at the headwaters of the Pasión River.
“That river, was really the
superhighway of the Classic Maya world”, states Arthur Demarest.
During the Middle and Late Classic,
Piedras Negras, had the
dominance of the Usumacinta river route, substituting
Altar de Sacrificios
and Ceibal that held this dominance in the
Preclassic and Early Classic.
Dos Pilas an outpost of Tikal, was founded ca 650 AD to control the
lower Pasión river route and thus the upper Usumacinta, and this
brought the attention of Calakmul, that led to a series of
conquer wars to hold this important commerce route. The San
Pedro river, another tributary of the Usumacinta, was the
northern route to Central Petén and was
dominated by Waka’. Several Jade artifacts have been found as
far as Costa Rica and the distant Island of Antigua.
Obsidian was primarily transferred
in the form of spall. The term "spall"
refers to large flakes,
large flake fragments, and chunks. In order to make use of
obsidian it must be cut and shaped into smaller fragments that
can be used as tools; hence large obsidian workshops are
necessary. It is estimated that Tikal had close to a hundred of
these workshops in
approximately 700 A.D. Both transport and
treatment of obsidian created a labor-intensive industry,
requiring simple porters, usually slaves, and skilled craftsmen.
The merchants, or Pochtecas, of
Teotihucan, obtained access to obsidian sources in the
Guatemalan highlands, as well as major economic centers, such as
Tikal and Kaminaljuyú. The raw material demand for Teotihuacan
was extremely high with its estimated 45,000 population during
the Early Classic Period. The hallmark tripod pottery design of
Teotihuacan, found primarily in Kaminaljuyú, suggests the heavy
influence of entrepreneurial traders. Potter contends
Teotihuacan's greatest influence is present in the increase of
long-distance trade
Art:
Prestigious
art objects, where made locally, but
there were some very appreciated types such as
the beautiful polychromes,
specially the "Codex" style, from the late Classic occupation in
El Mirador and
Nakbé,
the "Ik Site" style, now known to be
Motul de San
José, the Alta Verapaz ("Chamá"
style) vases and plates and
the "Nebaj" style in Quiché, that made exquisite ceramics,
Jade Pectorals and Stelas (Tetún)
commissioned by other cities. Often the work produced
by a particular artist, was heavily sought after by the elite
classes of Maya society, the most renown is Aj Muwan from
Naranjo,
maker of the 7 and 11 god vases. Cancuén and
Guaytán were
specialized in Jade handcrafts,
Kaminaljuyú was a major
producer and exporter of Obsidian objects,
Río Azul also was an
art exporter, including rare metal objects, found as far as
Kaminaljuyú. from the Tiquisate area in the
Pacific Lowlands came the
finest incense burners, found in sites all over the Lowlands and
Highlands sites. The pottery and statuettes
most wanted were those
to be used in private rituals, mainly in shrines inside
caves or in their homes.
During the late classic, the Codex style from
Nakbé was one of the most appreciated.
The example of Aguateca is quite
valuable due to its rapid abandonment, we now know that most
artisans were involved in a part time job and in a low scale
production, with some elite dedicated to the control of fine art
and exotic goods.
The Maya
developed paper quite early in the first millennium, archaeological
evidence of manufacture, trade and use of
bark paper by Maya dates from the early 5th
century AD .
The Maya named their paper Hu'un,
and saw it as a writing surface when they appropriated their
bark-cloth tunics as a possible means of transmitting information
such as Calendars and
Mathematics:
“early in their history the Mayas produced a kind of tapa cloth from
the inner bark of certain trees, the main being the wild fig tree *Ficus
guatemalana* or Amate,
named Kopo' by the Maya, (Left), This paper, superior in texture,
durability, and plasticity to Egyptian papyrus, was thus
perfected anonymously and communally by the Maya. (Sandstrom and Sandstrom,
Traditional Papermaking 13).
Maya Collapse:
The level of the central area's
dependency on trade can be witnessed through the eventual
decline of the Petén lowlands after the deterioration of trade
routes through the area. Although there are several reasons for
the decline of the Maya, the failure of trade was a major issue,
which impeded prosperity and lead to the abandonment of many
lowland communities.
The rise of merchants
severely altered the political structure of many ancient Maya
communities. This reverts to resource control and wealth.
Commerce revolutionized the political system of the ancient Maya
by allowing the rise of a different type of political elites:
the merchants. Maya elites relied on luxury items, such as jade
and quetzal feathers, to denote high social rank. Commoners used
obsidian tools for daily work and salt for consumption and
religious practices. Both commoners and the elite used Cacao as
a form of currency. These dependencies entrusted merchants with
substantial power and wealth.
Long-distance trade was a primary
source of prosperity and enabled the ancient Maya to flourish as
a culturally enriched and fascinating civilization and when this
trade was disrupted, it contributed to their
Civilization’s
collapse
