Ritual Economy

This article offers insights into the organization of Scioto Hopewell craft production and examines the implications of this organization through the lens of ritual economy. We present a novel analysis of investigations at the North 40 site, concluding that it is a craft production site located on the outskirts of the renowned Mound City Group. High-resolution landscape-scale magnetic survey revealed a cluster of three large structures and two rows of associated pits; one of the buildings and three of the pits were sampled in excavations. Evidence from the North 40 site marks this as the best-documented Scioto Hopewell craft production site. Mica, chert, and copper were crafted here in contexts organized outside the realm of domestic household production and consumption. Other material remains from the site suggest that crafting was specialized and embedded in ceremonial contexts. This analysis of the complex organization of Scioto Hopewell craft production provides grounds for further understanding the elaborate ceremonialism practiced by Middle Woodland (AD 1-400) societies and adds to the known complexity of craft production in small-scale societies. Furthermore, this article contributes to a growing body of literature demonstrating the utility of ritual economy as a framework for approaching the sociality of small-scale societies.

Este articulo proporciona nuevas perspectivas sobre la organización de la producción artesanal Scioto Hopewell y también examina las implicaciones de la organización artesanal aplicando la economía ritual como marco. Presentamos un análisis distinto sobre las investigaciones en el sitio Norte 40 y concluimos que es un sitio dedicado a la producción artesanal en las afueras de el renombrado Mound City Group. Prospecciones magnéticas de alta resolución a escala grande han revelado una agrupación de tres estructuras grandes y dos filas de pozos asociados con estas estructuras. Los materiales que provienen de excavaciones en una de estas estructuras y tres de estos pozos nos indican que el sitio Norte 40 es uno de los mejores ejemplos de la producción artesanal Scioto Hopewell. Productos hechos con mica, sílex, y cobre fueron producidos en contextos orga-nizados aparte de la producción y consumo domestico. Otros materiales que provienen de este sitio también revelan que la producción artesanal era especializada y estaba entrelazada con contextos ceremoniales. Este análisis, el cual se enfoca en la organización compleja de la producción artesanal Scioto Hopewell, nos proporciona la base para obtener un entendi-miento mas complejo sobre ceremonias elaboradas de sociedades Middle Woodland (1-400 dC). También nos enseña que la organización de la producción artesanal de sociedades de pequeña escala resulta ser mas compleja de lo que previamente teníamos entendido. Es mas, este articulo contribuye a creciente evidencias que nos demuestran la utilidad de la economía ritual como un marco para interpretar las dinámicas entre las sociedades de pequeña escala.

Money is a commonplace of complex societies, and evidence for its production and use appears in the archaeological record at multiple scales: from individual coins, dies, and weights, to mint buildings, metallurgical workshops, and mining complexes. The character, scope, and volume of this evidence means that archaeology can offer significant and unique contributions to wider anthropological and sociological debates concerning the socio-cultural processes by which money comes into being: how are objects transformed into money, how are different forms of money rendered legitimate or illegitimate, and how are the social conventions behind money maintained or challenged by its producers and (non)users? This session explores the social production of money and moneys in past societies, with a focus on five key themes:
1) The assignation of value to monetary media
2) Legitimation and validation of moneys
3) Fungibility and commensuration of moneys
4) Money and institutions
5) Hierarchies of money