Anthropology, Department of
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
2023
Citation
Ancient Mesoamerica (2023) 34(3): e11, 13 pages
doi: 10.1017/S0956536123000147
Abstract
The archaeological site of Copan was a cultural and commercial crossroads at the southeastern Maya frontier. Research indicates that the demographics and sociopolitical circumstances of the city of Copan and its location within a circumscribed pocket (24 km2) of the larger Copan Valley varied through time. These circumstances not only influenced its social, political, and economic interactions, but likely the size, construction, and organization of households, specifically plazuelas. Copan’s plazuelas differ from those located in other Maya regions because they often have smaller house platforms, comprise more than a single patio, and exhibit a larger than normal proportion of informal groups. Gini coefficients, to investigate wealth inequality based on household size using area, volume, and a modified volume, were calculated for Late Classic Copan to allow for comparisons to Gini coefficients from other Maya regions. While the Gini coefficients suggest that wealth inequality at Copan is much higher than in other Maya regions, deeper interpretations of inequality based solely on the Gini coefficients are limited, requiring not only additional geospatial analysis employing a multi-proxy Gini coefficient, but, importantly, a comparison to and a deeper reflection on previous research at Copan.
Included in
Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Geographic Information Sciences Commons, Human Geography Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Landscape Architecture Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Spatial Science Commons
Comments
Copyright 2023, Heather Richards-Rissetto. Open access
License: CC BY 4.0