The domestic economy and its implications for social complexity: Spondylus craft production in coastal Ecuador

Abstract

Archaeological evidence from the prehistoric Spondylus industry of coastal Ecuador is analyzed here to clarify how craft production was structured and the role that it played in the rise of social complexity. Many models of social development propose that elite cooption of specialized craft production can be a useful avenue through which aspiring elites can gain differential status. Contrary to the expectations of these models, data from coastal Ecuador indicates that craft production of sumptuary goods was an activity primarily carried out by household units for the benefit of the domestic economy. Increased trafficking with northern Peruvian states at ca. 750 seems to have promoted local social stratification by attracting large numbers of households to the restricted locales where they could exploit these resources, which in turn prompted a strengthening of the kinds of political conditions that facilitate orderly interaction and minimize internal social conflict.

Citation

Martín, A.J. (2010), "The domestic economy and its implications for social complexity: Spondylus craft production in coastal Ecuador", Wood, D.C. (Ed.) Economic Action in Theory and Practice: Anthropological Investigations (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 30), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 111-155. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0190-1281(2010)0000030009