6 Urban Commerce in the Jovel Valley of Highland Chiapas

Abstract

The Late Classic and Early Postclassic civic centers of Moxviquil and Cerro Ecatepec/CV-38, located in the Jovel Valley of highland Chiapas, supported a number of institutions that provide evidence for a low level of commercialization. These include a possible periodic marketplace in the Main Plaza of Moxviquil, indirect evidence of merchant activity, and the use of widely circulating formal currencies, media of exchange, and imported luxury goods. However, many imported commodities were not equally consumed at all sites in the valley, and many widely-circulating currency items were ultimately deposited in elite funerary contexts.[Maya, Chiapas, marketplace, currency, exchange]