The Organization of Staple Crop Production at K'axob, Belize

Abstract

This study examines variability in size, staple crop production, and wealth among households in the community of K'axob, Belize, from the ninth century B.C. until the ninth century A.D. Staple crop consumption and production are reconstructed from stable bone isotopes of 25 adults from 21 households. The formation of larger corporate households is documented from the spatial layout of 62 residences. Wealth differentiation is reconstructed by comparing architectural and ritual elements from 69 households. The formation of larger corporate households, the diversification of staple crop production, and the emergence of interhousehold wealth differentiation beginning in the fourth century B.C. coincided with the emergence of regional elites. However, changes in household size and staple crop production should be understood in terms of the high degree of continuity in the local agrarian economy. These findings suggest that elite political strategies had repercussions for the ways farming households managed staple crop production but that elites did not directly control production. The study also expands on current models of complex society that question the degree to which political elites directly managed the agrarian economy.