Alexander J. Martín
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University of Pittsburgh
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Martín, Alexander J.
2008 El Modo de Producción Doméstica y la Complejidad Sociopolítica. In II Latin-American Congress of Anthropology, San José. Costa Rica Conference Proceedings, Mauricio Murillo Herrera and Adam C.J. Menzies (symposium editors), p. 32-40. Asociación Latinoamericana de Antropología and Universidad de Costa Rica: San José, Costa Rica.

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the production of luxury goods for long distance trade and sociopolitical development. It reviews two different academic traditions. The first proposes that the manufacture of exotic items influenced sociopolitical development because it helped political elites validate their status. The second sees the manufacture of long distance trade items as essentially motivated by the domestic economy. Archaeological data from a full coverage survey in the coast of ManabÌ, Ecuador, is contrasted against these two models in order to determine which serves as a better explanation of the social processes that motivated social development in that area.













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