[Aztlan] Query on Classic Maya taxes and tribute

[Michael Smith]

I am looking for comparative Mesoamerican data on taxation and tribute
(outside of the Aztec area). Are there any studies of Classic Maya taxes
or tribute or political gifts based on inscriptions and/or vase
painting? I am interested in questions of the organization of palace
revenue, such as: who collected taxes/tribute? If there were officials
charged with collection, were these officials nobles or commoners? Were
payments recorded? Were they made on a regular schedule? What kinds of
goods were collected? What happened to those goods once they were
delivered? I realize that it may not be possible to answer such
questions adequately for the Classic period Maya, but perhaps recent
epigraphic research sheds some light on these issues. There are many
evocative images of palace life on funerary vases, and I think some show
delivery of cacao and other goods to lords, but I am not up to date on
scholarship in this area.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

 

Michael E. Smith, Professor

School of Human Evolution & Social Change

Arizona State University

www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9

http://publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com

http://calixtlahuaca.blogspot.com