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Beyond house size: Alternative estimates of wealth inequality in the ancient Maya Lowlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2024

Jessica Munson Open the ORCID record for Jessica Munson [Opens in a new window] ,
Jonathan Scholnick ,
Andrés G. Mejía Ramón  and
Lorena Paiz Aragon
Jessica Munson*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology-Sociology, Lycoming College, Williamsport, PA, United States
Jonathan Scholnick
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, United States
Andrés G. Mejía Ramón
Affiliation:
Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
Lorena Paiz Aragon
Affiliation:
Proyecto Arqueológico Altar de Sacrificios, Guatemala City, Guatemala
*
Corresponding author: Jessica Munson; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

House size provides a comparative measure of household wealth that enables archaeologists to track global trends in inequality across a range of sedentary societies. Such approaches hold particular promise for Maya archaeology given its long history of settlement pattern research and recent applications of LiDAR to map large areas surrounding ancient Maya cities. Estimating dwelling size, however, is not a trivial exercise. This article addresses potential confounds associated with geometric-based estimates (volume and area) and compares traditional house size-based measures of wealth with other estimates of house size and quality of life indicators. Settlement pattern data from the Upper Usumacinta Confluence Zone, recently collected by the Proyecto Arqueológico Altar de Sacrificios, combined with previously published excavation data provide a robust dataset to evaluate alternative measures of wealth beyond house size.

Resumen

Resumen

El tamaño del hogar proporciona una medida de riqueza conveniente y comparativa de su riqueza que permite que los arqueólogos sigan tendencias en desigualdad a través de un rango de sociedades sedentarias. Tales enfoques son particularmente prometedores para la arqueología maya dada su larga historia de investigaciones en los patrones de asentamiento y recientes estudios de LiDAR para mapear grandes áreas alrededor de ciudades antiguas. Estimar el tamaño del hogar, sin embargo, no es trabajo sencillo. Este artículo discute sobre posibles variables de confusión asociadas a estimaciones de riqueza, basándonos en medidas geométricas (volumen y área) y compara medidas tradicionales de riqueza (con base en la geometría) con otras estimaciones del tamaño de casa e indicadores de la cualidad de la vida. Datos del patrón de asentamientos de la Zona de Confluencias del Usumacinta Superior recientemente recolectadas por el Proyecto Arqueológico Altar de Sacrificios, combinados con datos previamente excavados, proporcionan un conjunto robusto de datos para evaluar medidas alternas de riqueza más allá que el tamaño del hogar.

Type
Compact Section: Ancient Maya Inequality
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , Fall 2023 , e8
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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