Chimu craft specialization and political economy: A view from the provinces

Abstract

Recent archaeological approaches to craft specialization have championed a perspective that gives politics primacy over economics (Brumfiel and Earle 1987:1-2; Earle 1987:64-67; Peregrine 1991:8). In this view, attached specialization develops under elite coercive control (Brumfiel and Earle 1987:5; Costin 1991, 1998, 2001). Elites patronize the production of hand-crafted, labor-intensive (Clark and Parry 1990:319) and hard-to-acquire, exotic goods (Helms 1993)-the quintessential status markers and prestige technologies (Hayden 1995:258)- and hand these goods out to supporters and allies, allowing them to convert surpluses of staple goods into primitive wealth (Brumfiel and Earle 1987:7; Clark and Parry 1990:323; D'Altroy and Earle 1985; Earle 1987:68-69). Redistribution is not about subsistence and utilitarian goods; it is a political rather than economic phenomenon (D'Altroy 1992:68, 184) and a redistributive system is not to be confused with a centrally planned economy. © 2006 Springer.