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Terms / Concepts:

• economic anthropology
  
  
• methods
  
  
• comparative methods
  
  
• ethnographic analogy
  
  
• body decoration
  
  
  • dental inlays
  • head deformation
    
    
• elite craft items
  
  
  • jade
  • rare sea shells

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• "Pompeii effect"
  
  
  • captured and preserved archaeological sites and parts of archaeological sites as they were used in daily life
    
    
• obsidian
  
  
• star gordet
  
  
  • probably the most spectacular find at Copán
    
    
  • is a symbol of Bacabs (Pauahtún)
    
    
    • Mayan gods who held up the earth and the sky
      
      
    • also are the patron of scribes
      
      
• under-the-floor tombs
  
  
• midden
  
  
• mano / metate
  
  
  • metate quarrying rhyolite
    
    
• societies . . .

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Notes:

• increasing social complexity involved
  
  
  • economic specialization
    
    
    • production
      
      
    • distribution
      
      
      • porters carried approximately 50 lbs. each on long-distance routes
        
        
      • weekly markets (tiangus)
        
        
    • consumption
      
      
  • specialization is a measure of society's overall complexity
    
    
  • social stratification
    
    
  • agricultural surplus is at the base of a stratified system
    
    
    • priest class
      
      
    • nobility / elite
      
      
    • artisans (specialists)
      
      
      • tailors
      • potters
      • wood workers
      • lime makers
      • featherworkers
      • mano and metate makers
      • figurine makers (Teotihuacán)
        
        

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• population size and density exert an important influence on the character of a city
  
  
  • high population densities, for example promote big urban markets, and big urban markets promote a high degree of specialization
    
    
• ethnographic analogy
  
  
• metateros (Mexico)
  
  
  • part-time farmers, part-time metateros
    
    
• tanning / leather specialists (Fez, Morocco)
  
  
  • developed guilds
    
    
    • set standards
    • controlled prices
    • represented its members
      
      

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Sites:

• Copán, Honduras
  
  
  • in A.D. 400 - 800 was one of the major Mesoamerican centers
    
    
  • 27,000 people at its height
    
    
  • [The largest city in the U.S. at the time, Philidelphia, in 1776, had about 30,000.]
    
    
  • Petapilla
    
    
    • river, and quarry site, and archaeological site name near Copán
      
      

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• Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico
  
  
  • "golden green" and green obsidian
    
    
  • most obsidian is black or gray
    
    
  • related to the development of Teotihuacán
    
    
  • studied ancient mining techniques
    
    
  • "cores" were transported by humans to Teotihuacán
  
  
• Teotihuacán, Mexico
  
  
  • at A.D. 600 had at least 125,000
    
    
  • largest city in the New World
    
    
  • one of the largest cities in the pre-industrialized world
    
    
  • had almost 2000 nearly-identical house compounds
    
    
    • each house had 30 - 100 people
      
      
  • their irrigation system freed 30,000 - 40,000 to specialize
    
    
    • but still it took 70% of the population to feed the city
      
      
  • specializations included making figurines
    
    
    • between A.D. 250 - 350 the mold was introduced into figurine making at Teotihuacán
      
      
    • judging from the fingerprints (males have wider ridges, females have narrower ridges) it appears that early handmade figurines were made by females, but with the development of the apartment compound this changed to a male specialization
      
      
    • "host" and "guest" figurines
      
      
  • Pachuca "golden green" obsidian was important
    
    

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• Tlacolula

• Rome, Italy
  
  
  • about A.D. 200 the population approached 500,000
    
    
    • at this time it was the center of the Western World
      
      
  • was able to tap into the economy of other areas by using ships
    
    
  • Ostia was their port city
    
    
    • "everyone" here was a specialist
      
      
• Fez, Morocco
  
  
  • 120,000 in the old city
    
    
  • high population density, which didn't change much since the 10th century
    
    
  • tanning specialists
    
    
    • their specializations go back "a thousand years"
      
      
  • as in ancient Ostia in Italy, almost everyone in Fez is a full-time specialist operating in an economy which allowed social mobility
    
    

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Individuals:

• Eloisa Aguilar
• Warren T. D. Barbour
• Amanda Claridge
• Ross Hassig (transportation specialist)
• C. Rudy Larios
• William Sanders (archaeologist)
• Rebecca Storey (physical anthropologist)
• David Webster (archaeologist)
• Rudolph Widmer

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Out of the Past Series -- Annenberg / CPB Exhibits

Use this humanistic approach to archaeology and anthropology to make connections between past civilizations and modern societies, including how societies function and change. This series helps bring cultural ecology to light using physical evidence and scientific detective work. On-site filming at the spectacular Classic Maya center of Copán, Honduras, shows archaeologists reconstructing this ancient society. In addition, past and present cultures in Central and North America, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East are explored. Produced by Pennsylvania State University and WQED/Pittsburgh. 1993.