Merchants, Markets, and Exchange in the Pre-Columbian World

“Conventional thinking by archaeologists about the role and nature of markets in the pre-Columbian Americas has been subject to revision in recent times. This new collection from a 2010 Dumbarton Oaks symposium features five studies about highland Mexico, four on Mayan areas, and seven about Central Andean cultures, constituting the most comprehensive comparative work to date. The papers all present more complexity in the nature of goods production and distribution in these regions than can be adequately explained or accommodated by earlier models of their exchange systems (e.g., the Aztec merchant economy, Mayan palace economy, and Andean vertical archipelago). This change has occurred over recent decades, but the emphasis and scope of the current volume is unique.”—K. Cleland-Sipfle, Choice