ABOUT THIS BOOK

In Mesoamerican Ritual Economy, scholars examine the extent to which economic processes were driven by and integrated with religious ritual in ancient Mesoamerica. The contributors explore how traditional rituals - human blood sacrifice and self-mutilation, "flowery wars" and battling butterfly warriors, sumptuous feasting with chocolate and tamales, and fantastic funerary rites - intertwined with all sectors of the economy. Examining the interplay between well-established religious rites and market forces of raw material acquisition, production, circulation, and consumption, this volume effectively questions the idea that materialism alone motivates the production, exchange, and use of objects.

Exploring the intersection of spirituality and materiality, Mesoamerican Ritual Economy will be of interest to all scholars studying how worldview and belief motivate economic behavior. The authors consider a diverse set of Mesoamerican cultural patterns in order to investigate the ways in which ritual and economic practices influenced each other in the operation of communities, small-scale societies, and state-level polities. Contributors include: Sarah B. Barber, Frances F. Berdan, Karla L. Davis-Salazar, Barbara W. Fash, William L. Fash, Antonia E. Foias, Arthur A. Joyce, Brigitte Kovacevich, Ben A. Nelson, Enrique Rodríguez-Alegría, Katherine A. Spielmann, John M. Watanabe, E. Christian Wells.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

E. Christian Wells and Karla L. Davis-Salazar are assistant professors of anthropology at the University of South Florida.

REVIEWS

“This book effectively expresses a growing awareness among archaeologists that there is much to be learned by examining the complex interplay of the religious, material, and political realms."
- Edward M. Schortman, Professor and Chair of Anthropology, Kenyon College

"This book is a welcome contribution to our understanding of economics and religious activities and the production and use of material culture (human-crafted artifacts and naturally occurring objects) in ritual ceremonies and in maintaining and enhancing political power."
- Charles C. Kolb, The Americas

"...a great service to anyone interested in how the continual ritual cycle affected society."
- Julia A. Hendon, American Anthropologist

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
 List of Figures
 List of Tables
 Contributors
 Preface
 1: Mesoamerican Ritual Economy: Materialization as Ritual and Economic Process
 E. Christian Wells and Karla L. Davis-Salazar
 Part I: Acquisition
 2: Faenas, Ferias, and Fiestas: Ritual Finance in Ancient and Modern Honduras
 E. Christian Wells
 3: Ritual, Crafting, and Agency at the Classic Maya Kingdom of Cancuen
 Brigitte Kovacevich
 4: Addicted to Rituals of Contested Meanings in Colonial Mexico
 Enrique Rodríguez-Alegría
 5: Ritual Pilgrimage and Material Transfers in Prehispanic Northwest Mexico
 E. Christian Wells and Ben A. Nelson
 6: Ritual, Politics, and Pottery Economies in the Classic Maya Southern Lowlands
 Antonia E. Foias
 Part II: Consumption
 7: Ritual Consumption and the Origins of Social Inequality in Early Formative Cop n, Honduras
 Karla L. Davis-Salazar
 8: Polity Produced and Community Consumed: Negotiating Political Centralization through Ritual in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca
 Sarah B. Barber and Arthur A. Joyce
 9: Material Dimensions of Aztec Religion and Ritual
 Frances F. Berdan
 10: The Roles of the Ballgames in Mesoamerican Ritual Economy
 Barbara W. Fash and William L. Fash
 Part III: Reflection
 11: Ritual and Political Economies
 Katherine A. Spielmann
 12: Ritual Economy and the Negotiation of Autarky and Interdependence in a Ritual Mode of Production
 John M. Watanabe
 Index