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better archaeological
in the
organization
ofMesoamericanmacroregionaleconomicsystems.
In thispaper,
I review Santley's approaches
to understanding theMesoamerican
World and
outlineunresolved
questionsin thearchaeologicaluse ofworld-systems
theory
I discuss how recent research on trade diasporas
as applied toMesoamerica.
and consider some fruitful new directions
applies to the data fromMatacapan
forresearch.
FOR
ROBERT
SANTLEY,
TEOTIHUACAN
WAS
THE CENTER
OF THE WORLD. We
can well
explainingtwothings:
384
JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL
RESEARCH
to understanding theMesoamerican
World
Mexico
were characterized
prehispanic
core-periphery
systems
by a divisionof laborand
periphery dependence on urban cores (Blanton 1996; Smith and Berdan 2003).
macroregional system-Matacapan,
politicaleconomieslocatedinthe"semiperiphery"
of the
Middle Classic
regional
the
inmacroregionalsystemstructure.
transitions
keys tounderstanding
Santley's
legacy in the Tuxtlas is directly relevant to continuing inquiry about the role of
outposts and enclaves in the expansion and collapse of preindustrial states in
Mesoamerica.
WHAT'S
WRONG
WITH
WORLD
SYSTEMS
THEORY?
In the early 1980s the big question kicking around the Basin of Mexico was
what had fueled urbanization at Teotihuacan, Tula, and Tenochtitlan, and what
accounted for thevariable organization of theirpolitical economies. In "A Tale of
Three Cities" (Sanders and Santley 1983), William Sanders and Robert Santley
looked at the energetics of agricultural and craft production and the limits of
human transport.They predicted a limited role for foreign, long-distance trade
in structuring urban development in prehispanic Mesoamerica.
Santley was
in theTuxtlas, where he had ample evidence of a
already working atMatacapan
and
Teotihuacan enclave
economic activity linking theGulf Coast to theBasin
ofMexico.
Wallerstein's
(Blanton and Feinman 1984; Blanton et al. 1992). Variation inwealth and power
citieswas linked to each center's ability tomanipulate flows
amongMesoamerica's
MACROREGIONAL
SYSTEMS THEORY
INMESOAMERICA
385
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386
JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL
RESEARCH
and capitalaccumulation
acrosspoliticalboundaries
exchange,interdependence,
(seeStein1999).
Santley saw themodem capitalist world system as a subtype of more general
core-periphery models inwhich the structureof articulations among parts of the
systemwas dendritic (Santley and Alexander 1992, 1996). A world system is an
economic entity integrated by the exchange of staple products and possessing
a single division of labor spanning multiple cultural subsystems. According to
Wallerstein (1974b:40 1), it is composed of (1) a core, a zone with broad-spectrum
economiescontainingcapital-intensive,
high-profit
goods producedwith free
wage
profitproductionthatformsa buffer
betweendevelopedcoresandundeveloped
hinterlands; and (3) a periphery, a politically weak, narrow-spectrum economic
1. A core-periphery
exchange.
hierarchydevelops throughasymmetrical
Further,because productionin cores and peripheriesis organized
differently,world-system linkages create a division of labor that fosters
periphery dependence on the core (Chase-Dunn and Hall 1991).
2. Systemicand structured
formsof surplusextraction
and interpenetrating
capital accumulation
boundaries,
1996:93).
develop
creating macroregional
historicalanalogywhich archaeologists
applied toprehistoric
systems
without
firstdevelopingsufficient
warrantingargumentsor subjectingthenecessary
linkages
betweenarchaeological
dataandpolitical-economic
structure
torigorous
scrutiny. Consequently, Santley focused on several archaeological variables to
First, patterns of
decipher the organization of Middle Classic Mesoamerica.
productionand distribution
of specificartifacts,
especiallyPachuca obsidian,
allow archaeologists to trace the direction and scale of commodity flows. Second,
the technology and institutionsassociated with thephysical movement of primary
and secondary products, especially transport,affect thedistribution ofmaterials in
the archaeological record. Third, archaeological site structureof rural settlements,
craftworkshops, and household contexts, as well as the organization and scale
of craft production in both cores and peripheries, reflect the structure of market
and interdependence.
systems
data reveal
Although Santley's and others' analyses of theMesoamerican
broad similarities with other macroregional
systems, there are significant
the
differences. First, Santley was convinced that inClassic period Mesoamerica,
economy was commercialized and goods were exchanged according to forces of
MACROREGIONAL
SYSTEMS THEORY
INMESOAMERICA
387
undercompetitive
marketconditions
supplyanddemandoperating
(pace Spence
1996).Yet, thedebatecontinuesoverwhetherlaborwas widely commodified.
Except for thewell-documented
functioned
withotherworld systems,
and currencies
quitedifferently
compared
especially in thePostclassic period (Berdan et al. 2003).
is small in spatial scale, limitedby
Second, as world systems go,Mesoamerica
the transport systemwhich relied on human burden bearers. Exercise of military
power over distance was severely limited (Hassig 1985) in contrast toOld World
stateswhere animal traction and mechanical devices were substituted forhuman
muscle power, and goods could be transported in greater quantities over longer
distances (Sherratt 1981). Old World
forms of animal
husbandry
which producedamountsof storable,concentrated
proteinmuch
greater than the amount of protein yielded by the animal's meat. Mesoamericans
did not experience an equivalent secondary products revolution until after the
dissimilaritiesin
Spanish invasion.These observationssuggestsignificant
theworld-systems
and Mesoamerica
(Kohl and
Chernykh
2003).
betweencoreandperiphery
Finally,thedegreeof economicinterpenetration
is different in Mesoamerica
compared with
the modem
world
system. In
precapitalist
worlds,modes of accumulation
varydepending
onwhethersurplus
takers or primary producers control the factors of production (raw materials,
tools, land, labor, capital, and product) (Wolf 1982). In a capitalist system, profits
are accumulated
2003:19).
territorial
empires(SantleyandAlexander1992).FollowingHassig (1992),he
period Mesoamerica
as more
388
JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL
RESEARCH
variable,containingdifferent
regionaleconomic industries
nestedwithin the
same macroregional system (Arnold et al. 1993; Pool and Santley 1992; Santley
2004a, 2004b, 2007; Santley et al. 1987; Santley and Alexander 1992:38). Power
transformations
conflicts
occurredamongelitesas politicaleconomiesunderwent
indicatesemulationand statusenhancement.
Local "pretenders"
(possiblylocal
merchants) merely claimed Teotihuacan affiliation and identity,which formed
an importantpart of local political strategies (Cowgill 1992; Stark 1990). Santley
nevertheless maintained that a cartel of producers based inTeotihuacan was the
principal conveyer of obsidian goods over long distances in theMiddle Classic.
The foreign residents of the enclaves, he thought,worked in an analagous manner
to today's "economic hit men" (Santley 1983, 2004c). He attributed variation
in the intensity, timing, and frequency of Teotihuacan contact among enclaves
to different targeting strategies by the Teo cartel (Santley 2004c, 2007; see also
Marcus 2003).
In theTuxtlas he envisioned an enclave of foreignmerchants at the head of
regional economic system.Matacapan was the center of a solar
theGulf Coast
Teotihuacanbarrio(Santley2004c:387).Further,
materialevidenceof interaction
between theBasin ofMexico
Street of
(Millon 1988).
thedegreeof economicinterpenetration
AmongMesoamericanresearchers,
betweenTeotihuacanand theflourishing
regional
politicaleconomiesoutsidethe
Valley ofMexico
al. 1992). Because
were technologies
coloredpottery
andadoptedinregionsoutside
easilyreplicated
theBasin ofMexico, several investigators question the transformative effects of
long-distance tradewith Teotihuacan on regional economies outside the Basin
(Spence 1996; Stark et al. 1992). Motivations forTeotihuacan "interventions" in
Tikal, Monte Alban, Matacapan, Kaminaljuyu, and other sites, as well as local
reception of those interventions (accommodative or resistant) produced material
evidence that is highly variable in time and space (Cowgill 2003). Currently
Teotihuacan's military objectives on the Gulf Coast are being reevaluated in
MACROREGIONAL
SYSTEMS THEORY
INMESOAMERICA
389
Temple of the
Moon
regionaleconomiccapitalswith the
problematic.
First,why did the thriving
greatest evidence of Teotihuacan interaction-Matacapan, Kaminaljuyu, Tikal,
tobecome thenew cores of theEpiclassic and Early Postclassic
Monte Alban-fail
some of Teotihuacan's
secondary
were primecontributors
toTeotihuacan'sdemise
centerslikely
administrative
and benefited from the spoils of the city's collapse, in general the host cities for
far-flungoutposts bit the dust in theLate Classic.
Teotihuacan's
The Epiclassic
commercialization
andcirculation
ofgoods,militarism,
multiplecores,increased
and new ideological systems centered on the veneration of Quetzalcoatl. These
"leaner and meaner" Epiclassic polities did not extend economic hegemony to
areas outside theirdirect political control by means of colonies and outposts. Yet,
trade and military diasporas developed in the semipheripheries, such as Acalan
in theChontalpa,
theQuiche
and Cakchiquels
in highland Guatemala.
of Mesoamerica
systems wax
and wane
(Batten 1998). To some extent,we can view the demise ofMatacapan, Palenque,
and theMaya Usumacinta centers as a power shift to the east, in favor of centers
and Itzamkanac, which were advantageously situated on
such as Comalcalco
an extensive riverine system with outlets to the Laguna de Terminos (Ball and
Taschek 1989; Vargas 2001). At the end of theLate Postclassic period, theAztecs
established Nahuatl-speaking enclaves and commercial outposts at Xicalango
and Potonchan in this semiperiphery (Gasco and Berdan 2003; Izquierdo 1997;
Scholes and Roys 1948). Closer toMatacapan, Cuetlaxtlan and Tochtepec became
tributaryprovinces of theAztec Empire (Berdan 1996).
JOURNAL
OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL
RESEARCH
390
local development.
As local politiesexpanded,however,core politieswould
have to either exercise more formal political and economic domination or cede
Teotihuacan-inspired
materialcultureintotheLate Classic followingthedecline
ofTeotihuacan.
As Spence (2000) indicates,
thepersistence
ofTeotihuacan-style
architecture and material culture in the Epiclassic is not restricted to theGulf
it is also common inWest Mexico and in theChalchihuites region. The
two explanations he proposes for this situation (Spence 2000:257) also resonate
Coast
Basin ofMexico
familiar
urbancenters.
relatively
The second issue thatremainsproblematicforworld-systemsresearch
concerns the autonomy of the semiperiphery in structuring the relations between
cores and peripheries. The evidence from the host cities of Teotihuacan's Middle
Classic enclaves suggests that the economic development around Matacapan,
Kaminaljuyu, Tikal, and Monte Alban is the lynchpin for explaining structural
variation and change in the Middle Classic macroregional system. Yet, the
organization of semiperipheries and theirroles are undertheorized inWallerstein's
world-systems model, nor does his framework allow for the agency of societies
outside the core of the system (Dietler 2005; Stein 1999).
Conventionally, Santley and others viewed the enclave merchants as native
Teotihuacanos who intruded on and targeted thrivingMiddle Classic regional
systems outside the Basin of Mexico. Nevertheless, comparative historical
evidence also supports the idea that trade diasporas originate in the semiperiphery,
not in the core (Curtin 1984). Diaspora merchants belong to a distinct ethnic
community and serve as culture brokers, but typically theywork theirway out of
business as communication between distinct cultural systems becomes more fluid
and comfortable.
Spence's
MACROREGIONAL
SYSTEMS THEORY
INMESOAMERICA
391
significant
politicalandeconomicreturn.
Oaxaca,
ritualitems,suggesting
commercial
directed
ethnicgroup
activity
by a particular
thatproducesan evendistribution
of goods (seeHirth1998). If so,were these
markets administered by Teotihuacan,. by diaspora merchant guilds, or by elites
in regional capitals? Do diaspora termini or markets represent a distinct kind of
organization, different from systems of long-distance exchange thatcharacterized
theFormative
andEarlyPostclassicperiods?
In closing, Santley would say that it's time for the restof us to get towork on a
inpace, Robert.
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