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Transport Costs, Consumer Demand, and Patterns of Intraregional Exchange: A Perspective on Commodity Production and Distribution from Northern Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lenore Santone
Lenore Santone*
Affiliation:
GAI Consultants, 570 Beatty Road, Monroeville, PA 15146
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Abstract

Este artículo intenta definir áreas de consumo primarias y periféricas formales que se producían en Colha, en vista de las opciones de transporte y demanda del consumidor. Por medio de un modelo de presencia/ausencia, se examinan conjuntos líticos de 29 sitios del Preclásico Tardío y el Clásico Tardío en el norte de Belice buscando evidencia de variación en la demanda del consumidor según los periodos y según la proximidad a las vías acuáticas naturales. Durante el Preclásico Tardío, la más grande diversidad de herramientas formales ocurrió en los sitios que se sitúan al noroeste de Colha. Durante el Clásico Tardío la demanda por la herramientas formales de Colha se manifiesta en un mayor número de sitios que se sitúan a una distancia más grande y en todas direcciones del centro de producción. La comparación de la distribución de herramientas formales de pedernal, basada ya sea en el transporte terrestre o acuático, parece indicar que el uso de las vías acuáticas internas o marítimas (costeñas) se incrementó significativamente el tamaño del sistema de intercambio local. Los resultados de este estudio ilustran el significado de las rutas naturales de transporte como recursos explotables y en el desarrollo del sistema de intercambio local.

This paper attempts to refine recognized primary and peripheral consumer areas of Colha-produced chipped-stone tools in light of prehistoric transportation options and consumer demand. Using a presence/absence model, lithic assemblages from 29 Late Preclassic and Late Classic sites in northern Belize are examined for evidence of variation in demand structures by period and by proximity to natural waterborne transport routes. During the Late Preclassic the greatest diversity of chippedstone tools occurred at sites located northwest of the production center, while during the Late Classic demand for Colha-produced stone tools was present at a larger number of sites located at greater distances from Colha in all directions. Comparison of artifact distributional patterning within northern Belize and adjacent regions according to transportation routes indicates that use of inland and/or coastal waterways significantly increased the size of the local distributional system for Colha-produced formal tools. The results of this study illustrate the significance of natural transportation routes as exploitable resources and in the development of local intraregional exchange networks.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 1997 , pp. 71 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1997

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