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Trade in Maya civilization was a crucial factor in renaming Maya cities. The economy was a mixed capitalist/command system combining free market trade and direct government control over areas considered vital to the population of any specific state. Chief staples of Maya economic activities were centered primarily around foods like fish, squash, yams, corn, honey, beans, turkey, vegetables, chocolate drinks; raw materials such as limestone, marble, jade, wood, copper and gold; and manufactured goods such as paper, books, furniture, jewelry, clothing, carvings, toys, weapons, and luxury goods. The Maya also had an important service sector, through which mathematicians, farming consultants, artisans, architects, astronomers, scribes and artists would sell their services. Specialized craftsmen also played a large part, creating luxury items and developing devices to overcome specific problems usually by royal decree. They also engaged in long range trade of almost any other necessities such as salt, fish, stone and luxury items because there was a large need for trade in order to bring such basic goods together. The types of trade varied greatly regionally with specific districts of kingdoms typically specializing in a specific trade which contained workers of every skill set needed to produce their designated specialty. Areas were typically given a designated specialty based upon the resources available in their areas which allowed for very rapid production and distribution of a regions products. ==Structure== The Maya relied on a strong middle class of skilled and semi-skilled workers and artisans which produced both commodities and specialized goods.〔http://www.newmedia.ufm.edu/gsm/index.php/Mapping_the_Mirador_Basin:_Exploration_and_New_Technology_in_the_Cradle_of_Maya_Civilization〕 Governing this middle class was smaller class of specially educated merchant governors who would direct regional economies based upon simple supply and demand analysis who would place mass orders as needed by other regions. Above the merchants were highly skilled specialists such as artists, mathematicians, architects, advisers, astronomers. The specialist class would sell their services and create luxury goods based upon their specific skill set. At the top of the structure was a ruler, or rulers, and an array of advisers who would manage trade with other kingdoms, ensure that regions remained stable, inject capital into specific sectors and authorize construction of large public works. For decades, Maya exchange systems and overall economic systems have been viewed as overly simplistic and adhering to ideas of preindustrial political economies put forth by Polanyi (Feinman and Garraty 2010:169; Hirth 1996:204). In the mid-20th century, political economy was examined with an emphasis on identifying the evolution of political organization rather than understanding the economic systems that set the foundation for how they function (Hirth 1996:203). Polanyi put forth three modes of exchange for the Maya: reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange, which limited Maya societies to chiefdom levels of societal complexity (Dahlin 2009:342). In Polanyi’s model of Maya economy there existed highly centralized control of exchange by the elite members of society who maintained their status and a system of civic-ceremonial infrastructure through taxation of tribute goods followed by redistribution down the social ladder to secure loyalty and fealty from others (Dahlin 2009:342). Polanyi’s legacy and the subsequent substantivist versus formalist debate have reduced interest in the discussion of preindustrial market economies and have created a market/no market dichotomy in political economy literature (Feinman and Garraty 2010:169). However, as more research has been conducted on Maya trade and exchange systems there have been multiple models put forth that recognize higher levels of complexity, various degrees of participation, and fluctuating economic scales related to political organization and collapse (Rathje and Sabloff 1973; Hirth 1996; Feinman and Garraty 2010; Braswell 2010). The delineation of trade routes, and acceptance of marketplaces and market exchange economies, has increased due in large part to the archaeological research surrounding Maya obsidian procurement, distribution, production, and exchange (Asaro et al 1978; Golitko and Feinman 2015; Shaw 2012; Coronel 2011). It is now believed that Classic Maya cities were highly integrated and urbanized, featuring marketplaces and market economies to exchange many goods including obsidian. A market exchange mechanism has been noted at Classic period Calakmul murals that depict a range of specialists near an area that appears to be a market (Feinman and Garraty 2010). Linguistic evidence shows that there are words in the Yucatec Maya language for “market” and “where one buys and sells” (Coronel et al. 2015). The Classic Maya region is highly integrated into the overall trade network but it appears that several routes connected the East and West due to the variety of large, urbanized Maya centers as well as marketplace distribution economies (Golitko and Feinman 2015). At Late Classic Coba, marketplaces were determined to have existed in two large plazas that featured multiple causeway entrances, linear/parallel market stall architecture, and geochemical signatures of high Phosphorus levels in arranged patterns which indicate the presence of traded organic goods (Coronel et al. 2015). In the Puuc region, more central Mexican obsidian entered and while it does appear to be limited to elites only it does appear to be a highly commercialized and valued exchange good linked to Chichen Itza and market distribution (Braswell et al 2011). 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「Trade in Maya civilization」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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