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El Comercio Clasico de Obsidiana: Rutas Entre Tierras Altas y Tierras Bajas en el Area Maya
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
Resumen
Aunque las tres fuentes principales de obsidiana se encuentran ubicadas en las tierras altas, los modelos propuestos hasta la fecha para reconstruir la distribución de este material en las tierras bajas no suelen tomar en consideración los factores sociopolíticos e históricos que han afectado las entidades mayas de tierras altas. Sin embargo, estos factores son determinantes de los sistemas comerciales a larga distancia. Al examinar y comparar la ruta por tierra de Alta Verapaz y la ruta fluvial–marítima del Motagua–Caribe en una perspectiva geográfica, sociopolítica, e histórica que integra los grandes centros de Kaminaljuyú y de Quiriguá, así como los centros de Verapaz, se concluye que la segunda ruta fue sin duda más activa que la primera en el comercio de obsidiana, entre otros bienes. Pero, la complejidad de las secuencias históricas de estos centros y la variabilidad de sus estructuras sociopolíticas sugieren que la competencia entre las dos rutas fue intensa y provocó cierta inestabilidad en los sistemas comerciales y flujos de obsidiana, por una y otra ruta.
Abstract
Although the three major obsidian sources of the Maya are located in the Maya Highlands, most trade models proposed so far for obsidian distribution in the lowlands do not consider the sociopolitical and historical factors that affected highland polities, and hence, long-distance trade systems. One approach to this broad question is to study and compare the major trade routes between the highlands and the lowlands, i. e., the Alta Verapaz (land) route and the Motagua–Caribe (sea) route, from geographic, sociopolitical, and historical points of view. Available data on the social structure and culture history of Kaminaljuyu and Quirigua–prominent centers located close to the obsidian sources-as well as of Verapaz centers, are tentatively reexamined and reevaluated in the context of the highland-lowland Classic obsidian trade. This allows us to assess the effective supremacy of the Motagua—Caribe route over the Alta Verapaz route, at least during those (Classic) periods when Kaminaljuyu and Teotihuacan, then Quirigua, may have controlled long-distance obsidian trade. It appears that sociopolitical and historical factors resulted in a degree of instability in the Classic trade systems, as both routes competed for larger quantities of obsidian to be extracted, processed, and transported through systems that differed in time and space. Against such a complex background, quantitative data on obsidian distribution in either the lowlands or the highlands will have limited predictive potential unless more precision is attained in the control of chronological and functional contexts of obsidian samples when they are analyzed for source provenience. Such a goal requires that specific data-recovery strategies be implemented, which should give priority to sociopolitical and historical factors and include both Maya Highland and Lowland subareas.
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- Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1990
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