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Crafting and Manufacturing Crafting and Manufacturing
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Context Context
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Concentration Concentration
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Scale Scale
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Intensity Intensity
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Conclusion Conclusion
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References References
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42 Crafting and Manufacturing in Mesoamerica: Critical Engagements with Theory and Method
Get accessE. Christian Wells Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Centre for Brownfields Research and Redevelopment, University of South Florida, USA
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Published:21 November 2012
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Abstract
Production systems have long been an important subject of archaeological research in Mesoamerica. Studying how and why people formed particular groups and how those groups allocated labor and resources helps us to identify the social, economic, cultural, political, and even cosmological constraints and pressures that motivate people to make things. Driven, in part, by object-hungry museum directors in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, early excavations in Mesoamerica often focused almost exclusively on recovering and analyzing only the most exquisite and intricately fashioned goods—“luxury items” or “prestige goods.” But by the mid-twentieth century, the zeal to acquire and study luxury items was matched by comparable efforts to collect and consider quotidian or utilitarian materials, which revealed a great deal of detail about the daily lives of ancient Mesoamericans. Recent work on both kinds of goods has made important contributions to understanding how production is organized and for what ends. This article provides a selective and critical review of this literature, summarizing important findings and suggesting future directions.
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