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Economy is a system which consists of the production and distribution of goods and services by multiple agents within a society and/or geographical area. An economy is made up of individuals and larger organizations such as governments and gives value to goods and services. The Maya economy was very complicated in that it did not consist of the modern view of currency; there was no universal form of trade exchange other than the resources and services that could be provided among groups. The Maya documented wars and lives of their leaders in much greater detail than their trade networks and economy. The Maya economic system was largely based on agriculture, craft production, and trade. With the Maya most likely starting as small egalitarian societies spread throughout the Yucatan Peninsula and the modern southern Mexican states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, and Quintana Roo, and expanding throughout Central America in Guatemala, parts of Honduras, sections of El Salvador, and Belize. During this early Maya Preclassic era from 2000 BC-AD 250 these small egalitarian societies slowly formed into large settlements by as early as 500 BC. These used their most abundant resources to trade with other groups who lacked these resources. "As part of the social economy, localized trade allowed communities that possessed some products in abundance to exchange these with other communities to acquire what was unavailable locally. This promoted a complex economy based on symbiotic relationships between communities and regions, as each relied on others to furnish a portion of their needs in return for their efforts."〔Richard J. Sharer with Loa P. Traxler (2006) ''The Ancient Maya,'' 6th Edition〕 Thus economic relationships began among Maya groups, and trade networks began to flourish. ==Economic Structure== The backbone of the Maya economy was a middle class made up the workers and artisans who produced goods that the trade networks required.〔http://oldweb.geog.berkeley.edu/ProjectsResources/MayanAtlas/MayaAtlas/economics.htm〕 Through farming, domestication of animals,and the development of personal employment through acquiring sought after skills the middle class of the Maya developed an extremely complex trade network that was overseen by an elite class that made up the governing party. Journalist John Noble Wilford notes that evidence for marketplace activity demonstrates an advanced economic structure. The ruins of Chunchucmil show that, "using improved methods of analyzing the chemistry of ancient soils have detected where a large marketplace stood 1,500 years ago in a Maya city on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico."〔http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=latinamericanhistory&cdn=education&tm=130&f=00&su=p284.13.342.ip_&tt=11&bt=4&bts=9&zu=http%3A//www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/science/08maya.html%3F_r%3D1〕 This is one of many archaeological sites that show proof of the use of marketplaces and advanced trade networks. Shells from distant shores, feathers from far away lands, and rocks that don't belong in local areas have been found in a large number of archaeological sites in Mesoamerica that prove the Maya had trade networks similar to ours today. In summary, the economy of the ancient Mayas was running by a middle class under the supervision of the elite class. Resources from all over the geographic regions of the Maya world and beyond made up the economy of the Maya. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Economy of the Maya civilization」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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