ABSTRACT Economics – the socially instituted ways of managing how people value, make, exchange, and consume goods – is a major part of human culture. Yet there is comparatively little study of the economies of the pre-sixteenth-century Southeast, in spite of revealing written comments by the earliest European observers and the fact that cross-culturally in societies of comparable scale, multiple, complicated economic institutions always play a central role. Because of the Southeast’s rich environment and well-preserved material record of human culture spanning over 14,000 years, archaeology here could be contributing much more data and new theory to economic anthropology generally. As examples of this potential, we draw on existing archaeological information indicating (1) that chert in the Cahokia region was most likely obtained through market mechanisms, and (2) that ever since their origins, plazas were designed consistent with facilitating and managing exchange. We sketch two models (Market Fair and Formal Market) that may be useful for studying economic evolution. We suggest additional, practicable research questions to further our understanding of Southeastern economic structures.

中文翻译：

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美国东南部原住民经济在哪里？

摘要经济学——社会制定的管理人们如何评价、制造、交换和消费商品的方式——是人类文化的重要组成部分。然而，对 16 世纪前东南部经济的研究相对较少，尽管最早的欧洲观察家发表了书面评论，而且事实上，在规模相当的社会中，多元复杂的经济制度总是在跨文化方面发挥着重要作用。中心作用。由于东南部丰富的环境和保存完好的跨越 14,000 多年的人类文化物质记录，这里的考古学可以为经济人类学提供更多的数据和新理论。作为这种潜力的例子，我们利用现有的考古信息表明 (1) Cahokia 地区的燧石很可能是通过市场机制获得的，以及 (2) 自其起源以来，广场的设计与促进和管理交流是一致的。我们勾勒出可能对研究经济演变有用的两种模型（市场公平和正式市场）。我们提出了额外的、切实可行的研究问题，以进一步了解东南部经济结构。