Integration and scale of the domestic economy in the Xunantunch hinterlands

Abstract

Understanding houshold and thier economic organization provides important keys to the puzzles of societal scale and integration that have concern archaeologist during recent decades. Domestic refuse indicates that non-elite households of the Xunantunich suburbs and hinterlands were econmically differentiated and interdependent upon one another. Differences in the degrees to which households engaged in the production and utilization of stone tools suggest that exchane served as a major means of integration. Rural households were economically integrated at the local scale; authorities at Xunanatunich exerted little direct influence on the daily activities of rural households.