Mayan production of goods & services

Mayan culture in the Classic Period is the peak of its civilization. Advanced developments such as their economy, production of goods and services as well as their social structure are some of their successes in history. This powerpoint presentation will be on their production of goods and services

1. Table of Contents: Mayan Production of Goods and Services a. Economy b. Production of Goods Mayan Services 2. Mayan Domestic and Transnational Economic Trade Geography and Introduction Domestic Trade Transnational Trade 3. Consumption of Goods and Services

2. 1. Mayan Production of Goods & Services. Jessica Moore

3. Modern researchers have made use of a variety of methods to understand the Maya economy, including evidence from excavations, illustrations on pottery, scientific “fingerprinting” of materials such as obsidian and examination of historical documents . 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 . I. Mayan Economy

4. During this early Maya Neoclassic 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 did not have a lot these resources . This promoted a complex economy based on reciprocal relationships between communities and regions, as each relied on others to furnish a portion of their needs in return for their efforts. Thus economic relationships began among Maya groups, and trade networks began to flourish 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.

5. The Maya did not use "money" in the modern sense: there was no universally accepted form of currency which could be used anywhere in the Maya region . They would trade items. As the Maya began building their great cities, only trade would have brought them the essential goods they needed. These tended to vary in value from one region or city-state to another, often rising in value the farther away these items were from their source because there was a large need for trade in order to bring such basic goods together. 

6. II. Goods Different sites in the Maya region produced gold, jade, copper, obsidian and other raw materials: items made from these materials are found at nearly every major Maya site, indicating an extensive trade system . Maya merchants dealt in two kinds of goods, subsistence items and luxury items. Subsistence items were things used every day such as salt, foodstuffs ( fish ,  squash ,  yams ,  corn ,  honey ,  beans ,  turkey ,  vegetables ,  chocolate  drinks), clothing and tools ..

7. Luxury items were those things royalty and nobles used to showcase their wealth and power. These included jade, gold, beautiful ceramics, jewellery feather works , highly decorated pottery, ritual items and any other less-practical item used as a status symbol by upper-class Maya. The Maya had a bustling trade in prestige items as early as the Middle Preclassic period (about 1000 B.C.). One example is the famous carved jade head of Sun God ​ Kinich Ahau , discovered at the   Altun Ha archaeological site  in present-day Belize: the nearest source of jade was many miles away in present-day Guatemala near the Maya city of Quiriguá .

8. Subsistence items:

9. OBSIDIAN LUXURY ITEMS

10. JADE

11. III. Services 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.  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 . B ased upon the resources available in their areas which allowed for very rapid production and distribution of a regions products.  

12. The farmers and slaves performed most of the hard labor , and of course, the farmers provided the entire society with its most important resource--food. They likely made up a bulk of the Mayan military as well. The middle class within Mayan society was made of professionals, bureaucrats (government workers), artisans, and merchants. They had considerably more wealth than the lower classes, and they were to be respected by the farmers and slaves as well. The economy of the ancient Mayas was run 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.

13. 2. Mayan Domestic and Transnational Economic Trade Edice Hua

14. I. Geography & Introduction Maya trading occurred throughout Belize , Guatemala, and the Yucatan Peninsula, parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas, and the western portion of Honduras and El Salvador . While agriculture was the basis of Maya civilization, trade was equally important.

15. During the early Pre-Classic period (1000 B.C- 250 A.D), Maya living in small villages were somewhat self-sustaining. However, as the Maya began building their great cities, only trade would have brought them the essential goods they needed, such as salt and obsidian . Maya merchants dealt in two kinds of goods, subsistence items and luxury items. Subsistence items were things used every day such as salt, especially necessary in a hot climate, foodstuffs, clothing and tools. Luxury items were those things royalty and nobles used to showcase their wealthy and power. These included jade, gold, beautiful ceramics, jewelry and feather works.

16. II. Domestic Consumption (300A.D-800A.D) Great cities with large populations required food brought into markets. Usually, farmers who lived outside the city were responsible to provide for the city folks. However , what wasn’t grown nearby had to be brought in via trade or tribute. Most of the food were brought in and sold in the local markets . Foodstuffs brought to the market included turkeys, ducks, dogs, fish, honey, beans and fruit.

17. III. Trans-National Trade (300A.D-800A.D)  Luxury items, on the other hand, were most often involved in long distance trading. Cultural values and ideas would also have traveled along with the merchants, which is how the various cultures in Mesoamerica influenced each other . Merchants also traded in raw materials including jade, copper, gold, granite, marble, limestone and wood. Manufactured goods included textiles, especially embroidered cloth, clothing, feather capes and headdresses, paper, furniture, jewelry, toys and weapons. Specialists such as architects, mathematicians, scribes and engineers sold their services at the market as well.

18. III. Trans-National Trade (300A.D-800A.D) Long distance traders took their goods along established trade routes that covered Mexico to the north all the way through Central America and even down to South America and Cuba and other Caribbean islands. Hired porters carried the goods in a large basket on their backs, made easier by part of the weight being carried by a headband called a mecapal .

19. III. Trans-National Trade (300A.D-800A.D) Some Maya city-states became commercial hubs along important trade routes. Tikal, for example, was not rich in natural resources, but grew wealthy through its ability to facilitate trade to the rest of Guatemalan Maya cities. Tikal, Copan and Cancuen all developed their economies through operating as major trade hubs. Besides the trade route on land, important maritime trade took place as well. The Tainos of the Caribbean island of Cuba and the Quechua from South America traded with the Maya for cacao beans. Large trading canoes that held up to 20 people as well as a significant amount of trade goods traveled up and down the coasts .

20. 3 . Mayan Consumptionof Goods & Services. Jeremiah Chiac

21. References -Jessica Moore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_in_Maya_civilization http://www.historyonthenet.com/maya-merchants-and-traders/ http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/Maya/p/Ancient-Maya-Economy-And-Trade.htm   - Edice Hua : Masson, Marilyn A., and David A. Freidel .  Ancient Maya political economies . Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, 2002 . Galvin, Irene Flum .  The ancient Maya . New York: Benchmark Books, 1997 . Mackillop , Heather.  The ancient Maya: new perspectives . New York: W.W. Norton, 2006.