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Economic Specialization and Construction Personnel in Classic Period Copan, Honduras

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Elliot M. Abrams
Elliot M. Abrams*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701
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Abstract

The degree of development of specialist positions associated with large-scale construction at the Maya site of Copan, Honduras, is evaluated. The methodology used involves the quantification of energy, in human labor, which was expended in the construction of Str. 10L-22, a major palace in the Main Center of Copan. The results suggest that few specialists were required, and that the vast majority of construction personnel were unspecialized conscripts. Moreover, the absolute energetic investment was low, suggesting that energetic expenditures in largescale architecture could not have been a major source of stress on the Late Classic Maya socioeconomic system.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , July 1987 , pp. 485 - 499
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

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References

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