ABSTRACT

Conventional views of commodities in economics define them fairly narrowly in terms of their equivalence of use value. The Mopan Valley of western Belize presents a broad and fertile alluvial floodplain framed by gentle, karst-derived limestone hills. The hills are carpeted with agricultural terraces built by farming families over generations as they transformed the valley's landscape for intensive agricultural production. In the floodplain and hills, deposits of clays and chert nodules provided important raw materials for Classic Maya potters and flint-knappers. The utilitarian stone tool and ceramic economy of the Mopan Valley seems to have entailed a high degree of intimacy between the consumers and producers. The scene on the Buenavista Vase shows the so-called Holmul Dancer, a depiction of a nobleman dancing as the Maize God, often wearing an elaborate back-rack and accompanied by dwarfs. Vessels like the Buenavista Vase bear little resemblance to commodities.