Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

Specialized Shell Object Production at Teopantecuanitlan Site (Guerrero, México)
251
dence allows us to define a centralization of the
production units and a stricter control over the distinct
stages of the manufacturing process
(Velázquez 2007: 3). Also, this pattern of production
controlled by the elite members was identified
in Tenochtitlan (Velázquez 2007) and Xochicalco
(Melgar 2009), analyzing the manufacturing traces
as we did. In contrast, there are other studies
in elite contexts at Piedras Negras and Aguateca,
Guatemala, where the authors proposed the
same production but by analyzing the use-wear
traces of the tools, unfortunately, they could not
distinguish the tools employed on shell or bone
(Aoyama 2007, Emery and Aoyama 2007).
In short, these evidences can be considered
as a specialized production markers made by
dependent craftsmen, under close and strict
government control, which demands this kind of
goods to establish and maintain the social
inequity inside the Preclassic site of
Teopantecuanitlan.
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We give a special thanks to archaeologists
Adrián Velázquez, Emiliano Melgar, the biologists
Norma Valentín and Belem Zuñiga, the engineer
Antonio Alva, for their comments and suggestions
and finally Ana Laura Solís, Victor Manuel
Solís, Victoria Stosel, Bruce Bradley, Kim Richter,
and Virginia Fields for the English translation.
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
AOYAMA, K.
2007 “Elite Artists and Craft Producers in Classic Society: Lithic
Evidence from Aguateca, Guatemala”. Latin American
Antiquity, 18 (1): 3–26.
COSTIN, C. L.
1991 “Craft Specialization: Issues in Defining, Documenting
and Explaining the Organization of Production”. In:
Schiffer, M. B. (Ed.): Archaeological Method and Theory,
vol. 3. University of Arizona Press, Tucson: 1–56.
DRUCKER, P.
1981 “On the nature of olmec polity”. In: Benson, E. P. (ed.): The
Olmec and Their Neighbors, Essays in Memory of
Matthew W. Stirling, Michael D. Coe and David Grove,
Organizers. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and
Collections, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington,
D.C.: 29–48.
EMERY, K. & AOYAMA, K.
2007 “Bone, Shell and Lithic Evidence for Crafting in Elite Maya
Households at Aguateca, Guatemala”. Ancient
Mesoamerica, 18: 69–89.
MARTÍNEZ, G.
1994 “Los Olmecas en el estado de Guerrero”. In: Clark, J.
(Ed.): Los olmecas en Mesoamérica. El equilibrista
México, Turner Libros Madrid, México: 143–163.
1995 “Teopantecuanitlán”. Arqueología Mexicana, II (12): 58–62.
MELGAR, E. R.
2009 La producción especializada de objetos de concha en
Xochicalco. Master, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México, México. (unpublished).
SOLÍS, R. B.
2007 Los objetos de concha de Teopantecuanitlan Guerrero:
Análisis Taxonómico, tipológico y Tecnológico de un Sitio
del Formativo. Bachelor, Escuela Nacional de
Antropología e Historia, México.
VELÁZQUEZ, A. & MELGAR, E. R.
2006 “La elaboración de los ehecacozcatl de concha del
Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan”. In: López, L.; Carrasco,
D. & Cué, L. (Eds.): Arqueología e historia del Centro de
México, Homenaje a Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. Instituto
Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México: 525–537.
VELÁZQUEZ, A.
2007 La producción especializada de los objetos de concha
del Templo mayor de Tenochtitlan. Instituto Nacional de
Antropología e Historia, México.
BRUMFIEL, E. M. & EARLE, T. K.
1987 “Specialization, exchange, and complex societies: an
introduction”. In: Brumfiel, E. M. & Earle, T. K. (Eds.):
Specialization, exchange, and complex societies.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1–9.
CLARK, J. & PARRY, W.
1990 “Craft Specialization and Cultural Complexity”. In: Isaac,
B. L. (Ed.): Research in Economic Anthropology. Jai Press,
Greenwich-Connecticut & London: 289–346.
CLARK, J. E.
1994 “El sistema económico de los primeros Olmecas”. In:
Clark, J. Ed.): Los olmecas en Mesoamérica. El equilibrista
México, Turner Libros Madrid, México: 189–201.
MUNIBE Suplemento - Gehigarria 31, 2010
S.C. Aranzadi. Z.E. Donostia/San Sebastián