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CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS article
Front. Hum. Dyn.
Sec. Institutions and Collective Action
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fhumd.2025.1577960
This article is part of the Research TopicMarketplace Exchange across History: Transcending Theoretical DividesView all 4 articles
Ancient Maya Economics: Models, Markets, and Trade Routes
Provisionally accepted- 1University of Houston, Houston, United States
- 2Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Research in the Maya area has now generated sufficient archaeological data to better define past economic systems. Our traditional understanding of the ancient Maya was largely driven by archaeological finds related to the elite stratum of society and by general anthropological theory that was not focused on complex societies. These past theoretical lenses have led to misconceptions about not only ancient Maya social complexity, but also economic and trade systems that can now be better interpreted and summarized over time through a combination of archaeological data, epigraphic texts, and social science theory. These data show that the ancient Maya used market systems that moved goods throughout regional landscapes for consumption by elite and non-elite individuals and also incorporated extensive water-borne trade throughout their history.
Keywords: Maya, Archaeology, Economics, markets, Trade
Received: 17 Feb 2025; Accepted: 09 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chase, Chase and Chase. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Arlen F. Chase, University of Houston, Houston, United States
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