The Role of Jade in Maya Society edit
It has been speculated that the ideological packaging of Jade with an elite class, or rulership, originated in a culture that preceded the Maya, the Olmec Civilization. Jade has been documented in the Middle Preclassic Maya lowlands, in the context of Mesoamerican chronology, as beads rather than elaborate carvings, which suggests it was introduced as an Olmec currency before it became a Maya symbol of treasure.[1]
Initially when jade, or “hunal” as it was called in the Maya lowlands, and “spondylus”, a different type of precious ornamental stone, were introduced to the Maya, they were likely used in a bead form as an established currency for long-distance exchange. [2]
The importance of jade begins to dramatically increase throughout the Late Preclassic period of the Maya Civilization. Jade inherited an elite value and became a symbol of political power, kingship, and wealth.[3]
The elite value placed on jade and the emergence of social classes throughout the Mayan civilization of the Late Preclassic period imitated the Olmec civilization that preceded. Olmec kings, of the Middle Preclassic period, were appropriated with the same “hunal” jewel, which symbolized rulership and wealth. A key example of the inheritance of Olmec tradition by the Maya civilization. [4]
Jade’s rarity added to its value. The only documented site in Mesoamerica that contained large deposits and quantities of the precious stone is the Motagua River Valley. [5] Possessing jade greatly contributed to one’s social status and represented kingship throughout Classic Maya Civilization.
Jade attests to the basic entanglement of commodity and ideologically charged ritual performance that is designed to declare preciousness and value.[6]
Excavations and Discoveries edit
The most magnificent and largest Maya jade carving to date came from the Late Classic Period (600-900 CE) and was discovered at an excavation at the site Altun Ha. The excavation revealed a large carved head, weighing nine pounds and seven ounces, depicting the Maya Sun God, Kinich Ahau.[7]
Some of the finest jade carvings, and most numerous amounts of carvings, have been found in the Guatemalan Highlands at the sites Kaminaljuyu and Nebaj. [8]
Two of the most important burials found in the Americas in which large quantities of carved jade were discovered at Tikal and the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque. At these sites, it has been suggested that jade and obsidian, along with other trade goods, were buried as a tribute to ruling families. [9]
Trade and Economics edit
Artifacts found all over Mesoamerica exhibit that the Maya were part of a large trading network. [10] Much of the trading occurred between groups of Maya although they did trade with other dominant powers such as the Aztecs. The Maya Civilization generally utilized jade as a major proponent of trade.
The Maya utilized jade to trade for things that their economy didn’t produce. They traded jade, quetzal feathers (a key element of the Aztec royal costume), and cacao beans to the Aztecs in exchange for artifacts made from copper, this first metal introduced to the Maya Civilization and proved to be an extremely valuable resource.[11]
When the ethnohistory and archaeological evidence is viewed together, the perspective of Maya economy is more detailed. Most of the archaeological data suggests that most elites of Classic Period Maya controlled the production and exchange of wealth items such as jade. The economic control over the wealth and prestigious items provided the elites with additional sources of wealth for subsistence goods. [12]
The elites who controlled the major trade centers gained an opportunity to become more powerful politically and economically. The control of major trade became a crucial foundation for elite status, authority, and wealth. Elites arose to power as the sizes of their trade capitals grew. The trade centers run by the elites attracted non-elites with advantages such as availability of food, prime land for food production, and the construction of Temples for public ceremonies.[13]
The elites exploited the non-elites as laborers for food production and to obtain further wealth, such as jade, by implementing a system of corvee labor, a labor system that required non-elite males to work a specified number of days for the Maya state. This system of corvee labor was also used to exploit the non-elite by requiring a certain amount of their subsistence output to be payed to their ruler as a tribute. The elite ruler then, in return, uses the tributes payed to him by the non-elite's to reward his elite administrators or to seal alliances with other rulers. [14]
Social Structure edit
The Maya society was dominated by the elite class. The social structure of the Maya was not a two-class society but it had varying levels of social groupings. [15]
The elite class was not very widespread but it was well distinguished. The elites were defined in the Classic period of Maya civilization by having the means to obtain wealth items, such as jade, and maintain those items in their possession by passing them down generation by generation, generally to a noble or elite son. An elite son would generally have the opportunity to learn to read and write, to learn the rituals of religious practice, and at times even study architecture or master mathematics.[16] This gave the elite children an education unmatched by the non-elite adults of the Classic Maya civilization and gave them an advantage an opportunity to continue to dominate as an elite member of Maya society.
This was a viscous cycle for the vast majority of the Maya Civilization that was not in the elite class. The non-elite members of Classic Maya society were not separated into any individual social grouping, which made it extremely difficult to determine the social status of any non-elite. Without jade or other wealth items to help improve their social status, mobility was extremely limited between the different social status’. [17]
The non-elites were without prestigious goods but were exploited by the elites during the Classic Period of Maya Civilization to expand their wealth and produce specialized prestige goods by working in palace workshops. In these palace workshops, non-elites manufacture valuables such as carved jades, jade mosaics, and exotic jade masks and headdresses. Elites in the northern lowlands had great success in controlling production and distribution of their goods and expanded trade routes throughout pre-Columbian Mesoamerica that moved commodities long-distances. [18]
Notes edit
- ^ Freidel (2002, p.45).
- ^ Freidel (2002, p.45-46).
- ^ Freidel (2002, p.46).
- ^ Freidel (2002, p.46-51).
- ^ Harris (2008, p.48-49).
- ^ Freidel (2002, p.68).
- ^ Hunter (1986, p.23).
- ^ Hunter (1986, p.23).
- ^ Hunter (1986, p.23).
- ^ Harris (2008, p.48).
- ^ Harris (2008, p.49).
- ^ Freidel (2002, p.240).
- ^ Sharer (2006, p.84).
- ^ Sharer (2006, p.86).
- ^ Hunter (1986, p.24).
- ^ Hunter (1986, p.24).
- ^ Hunter (1986, p.24).
- ^ Sharer (2006, p.634-635).
References edit
- Harris, Nathaniel (2008). Ancient Maya: Archaeology Unlocks the Secrets of the Maya's Past. National Geographic Books.
{{cite book}}:|format=requires|url=(help); templatestyles stripmarker in|author=at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - Hunter,C. Bruce (1986). A Guide To Ancient Maya Ruins. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.
{{cite book}}:|format=requires|url=(help); templatestyles stripmarker in|author=at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - Masson, Marilyn A., Freidel, David A. (2002). Ancient Maya Political Economies. Rowman Altamira.
{{cite book}}:|format=requires|url=(help); templatestyles stripmarker in|author=at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - Sharer, Robert J. (2006). The Ancient Maya. California: Stanford University Press.
{{cite book}}:|format=requires|url=(help); templatestyles stripmarker in|author=at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)